Yielding
by SummerRaeBenson
Summary: Hiding a secret takes a lot of work, especially, if you've been hiding it for 15 years. You let other people talk to take the spotlight off you. Otherwise known as a 'right away'. What happens when a detective's secrets becomes too much to bear for her loved ones? EO fluff later! Of course, it's EO!
1. Chapter 1

**Please review! I know I've had a lot of stories like this, but they are so fun to write and you guys seem to enjoy them. Here goes another story! Yippee Kai Yay! (Quote from Die Hard by John McClain)**

Olivia Benson woke up to another Saturday morning. Of course, on the day she had off, it was down pouring. She groaned when she heard thunder. Saturdays were her one day where she got to be herself. Getting up, she pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans and a t-shirt. She grabbed the ratty old sweat shirt that belonged to her old partner and pulled it on, bringing the hood over her head as she left her apartment. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, signaling a text message. Before going outside, she pulled out her cell phone and read the text. _Are you still coming today?- Ava_

_Yes, I am on my way right now.- Liv_ She texted back before going outside. She hailed a cab and told him the address she had gone to almost every weekend. Buildings and people went in different directions outside her window. The butterflies in her stomach started fluttering faster. She hadn't seen Ava in three weeks and she missed her terribly. When the cab stopped in front of the brownstone, Olivia paid the driver and nearly ran to the door. She knocked three times before waiting for it to open. When it did, she was face to face with Ava's father. "Hey Tripp!"

"Hey Liv!" He smiled before kissing her cheek and letting her in. "How was your week?"

"It was too long." Olivia chuckled and patted his back. "Yours?" He rolled his eyes, letting her know. "Where's Andy and the boys?"

"Uh, Andy took the boys to the Jungle Gym downtown. Their friend from daycare is having a birthday party." Tripp explained. "I love my boys, but I am not going to a birthday party where a bunch of kids can wipe their noses on my pants."

Olivia laughed and patted his chest. "You didn't like changing diapers. That's why I had to change all of Ava's when she was younger." She looked around for a moment. "Where is our lovely daughter by the way?"

Tripp looked up the stairs. "Well, let's see." He went to the bottom of the steps and cleared his throat. "Ava! Can you come here please?" He called and smiled when he heard her coming down the upstairs hallway. They both heard her singing one of her favorite songs on the way there. She came around the corner, looking down at her iPod. One of her ear buds was in while she tucked away a strand of her brown hair that went halfway down her back.

She stopped at the top of the stairs. "Yes Dad!" She called back, not knowing he was only at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey!" Tripp chuckled. She looked down and saw him. "Ms. Pop Princess, look who's here."

Ava looked towards the door and smiled when she she saw Olivia. "Hey Mom!" She hurried down the stairs and hugged Olivia tightly.

Olivia smiled and held onto her daughter. "I missed you. It's been too long." She kissed Ava's head and pulled back enough to look at her face. "Hey Cupcake!" Ava chuckled.

Tripp smiled at them and leaned against the railing. "I call our daughter down and you get all the attention."

"Thank you Daddy." Ava grinned and kissed her father's cheek. "Andy called and she wants to know if you want to meet up for lunch with the boys."

"Okay, I'll call her back. You two have fun." Tripp said before jogging into the kitchen.

Ava turned to her mother and hugged her again. "I missed you too, by the way." Olivia chuckled. "So, it's raining. Movie day?"

Olivia smirked. "Way ahead of you." She opened her purse and pulled out two DVD cases. "I already brought two movies you haven't seen. I haven't seen them either, but you watch more movies than I do." She tapped her daughter's nose and hung her purse up. "I brought _Identity Thief_ and _The Five Year Engagement_. I saw them and I remembered that you and I wanted to see them. So, here they are."

"Good, we can watch them in the living room." Ava grinned as they walked into the living room. "I also got a movie that we haven't watched in a long time."

"What is it?" Olivia asked sliding her shoes off and dropping onto the couch.

Ava smirked holding up the movie case to _Dirty Dancing._ Olivia's jaw dropped. "I know you too well sometimes, Mom." She put in a movie and sat down next to Olivia, cuddling into her side. Olivia perched her legs on top of her daughter's, making her giggle.

Later, Olivia looked down at her daughter to find her sleeping. She stroked her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. She smiled remembering the times they'd end up like this when she was younger. Ava would always fall asleep at the end of their first movie or the beginning of their second. It made it easy putting her down for a nap when she was two. Her daughter was like a book that she had written. She knew everything since her daughter texted her almost everything about her day.

When she heard the front door open, she looked around the couch to see Andy and Tripp walk in with their two boys. Andy smiled and came over, leaving Tripp to take the sleeping boys upstairs. "Hey Liv!"

"Hey!" Olivia smiled. She rubbed her daughter's back before speaking again. "How was the party?"

"Well, Cliff went missing for ten minutes, but we found him in the bouncy house. Mitchell decided that he should just sleep through the whole party. He woke up for the car ride and then fell back asleep when we came in." Andy chuckled. "They're three and one and already completely opposite of each other."

Olivia laughed. "It seems like it. So, I noticed it was just Ava and I today. Where is everybody?"

Andy sighed. "Well, the older three are already moved out so they do whatever as you know." Olivia chuckled while nodding. "Uh, Barney is camping with his friends this weekend and my four kids are at their Dad's for the weekend. So, it's just Ava, Cliff, and Mitchell this weekend. But, Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of months. Luther and his family will come by before going to her families get together. Quinton and his girlfriend will stay for a couple of days. Juliet will be coming home and going all the time she's here. Then, it's Ava, Barney, Cliff, and Mitchell. Ava will probably join you to go to Simon's sometime on Thanksgiving."

"Probably." Olivia smiled. "How long has Quinton been dating his girlfriend? It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Three years, almost four. Ava and I are waiting for him to pop the question. He just wants to finish college before he proposes, I think." Andy nodded. She looked behind her when they saw Tripp. "Hey!"

"Hey! What are we gals talking about?" Tripp asked putting his hands on his hips.

"Family plans, are the boys down for the count?" Andy asked.

Tripp smirked. "Cliff wants Mommy to do the Cookie Monster voice." Andy rolled her eyes and waved a farewell to Olivia before going upstairs. Tripp sat down on the arm next to Olivia. "How did your day turn out?"

"Good. Ava and I watched a movie, ate popcorn, played a game of Monopoly, and then we watched another movie. She fell asleep a half an hour into it." Olivia smiled kissing her daughter's head. "Are you sure you're fine with her staying with me tonight? I don't want to ruin anything if you had something planned."

"Liv, she's also your daughter. I see her everyday. It's fine." He kissed her head. "Besides, she gets restless around here. You have no idea how much fun she has with you. You are like her birthday every week."

Olivia grinned. "Well, she's the same for me. I just wish that I could talk about her."

Tripp rolled his eyes. "You can. You just have to tell people she exists." He slid down onto the couch beside her and put an arm behind her head. "It's not that hard."

"What am I supposed to say?" Olivia asked, dropping her head onto his arm. "Hey guys, I have a daughter that I never told you about. She's fifteen, almost sixteen. And, I married her father when I got drunk in Vegas. We got divorced a year and a half later because we just couldn't make it work for her."

"Well, you don't have to say exactly that." Tripp chuckled and rubbed her shoulder. "Just start with the first part. Hey guys, I have a daughter. Her name is Ava and she's perfect. Even though I never told you about her, I really would like you to meet her." He patted her leg. "Our daughter deserves that."

Olivia turned to face him and paused for a moment before whispering. "I know she does. It's just not that easy."

Tripp smirked. "How do you think I feel? You were my second wife and I am on number four. It took me four months for Andy to consider me for a date because she called me that marriage killer." Olivia laughed, shaking her head at him. "You're a good mom, Olivia. Let people know that you are."

"Okay." Olivia sighed. "Can I call you marriage killer from now on?" Tripp chuckled while shaking his head. "C'mon, it has a nice ring to it."

Tripp shook his head. "No, you have your own name for me?"

Olivia grinned. "I had lots of nicknames for you. I had idiot, asshole. I also had left foot." She chuckled when he tickled her neck. "Oh yeah, I called you Pooky."

"There you go." Tripp grinned.

Olivia's jaw dropped. "You like the name Pooky." Tripp nodded. "Why?"

Tripp smiled. "If I remember right, you said 'I do, Pooky' at our wedding in Vegas. We have it on video."

"I was super drunk. We both were." Olivia pointed out. "Pooky... I like it." She laughed when he rolled his eyes. "What'd your other wives all you?"

Tripp shook his head. "I can't say them with Ava in the room. Andy calls me marriage killer and Baby Boo. The other two wives were not so nice with nicknames. Besides, I don't see them that much. I see you and Andy."

Olivia smiled. "Oh, I feel so special. I'm your only ex-wife you like seeing." Tripp let out a loud laugh and rubbed her shoulder again.

He kissed her head. "Yeah, well, you didn't cheat or disappear on me." He looked at the TV and rolled his eyes when he saw the DVD menu for the movie _The Notebook_. "You two and mushy movies. Hey, are staying for dinner?"

"No, Ava said she could go for some Chinese tonight. So, we're just going to do that." Olivia said. She kissed his cheek. "You're the only ex-husband I like to see."

"I'm your only ex-husband." Tripp chuckled.

"Exactly." Olivia smiled. She got up after carefully situating their daughter. "I am going to go to the bathroom. Can you wake her up?"

Tripp's jaw dropped. "You big chicken! You just don't want to make her crabby." Olivia stuck out her tongue and hurried out of the room when he moved to stand up. "That's what I thought."

**Please review! Love you guys! Let me know what you think of this story! If you don't like it, I can delete it. But, I doubt I will because I already love it! LOL!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Please review!**

Olivia and Ava walked into her apartment an hour later. Ava dropped her duffle bag on the floor and looked around. "Since when do you order pizzas for yourself?" Ava asked going over to the pizza box on the counter and opening it. She looked in the fridge and looked back up. "And, since when do you eat the whole thing?"

"I didn't. Brian must have come by here today looking for me and realized I wasn't home." Olivia shrugged.

"So, he comes here and orders a pizza? That's weird. He didn't even clean up after himself." Ava complained. "I haven't met him and he doesn't know me and I find that wrong. I'm telling you this everyday now, dump him. A make up is not getting wasted at a bar. That's how you got married to Daddy."

Olivia rolled her eyes and moved her daughter away from the kitchen. "When I ask for your opinion, I will ask for it."

Ava mimicked her mother. "That wasn't opinion; that was fact. You say that you'd rather have a different way of making up every time you have a fight with him. Mommy, dear, listen to your daughter." She squealed when Olivia grabbed her and tickled her.

"Listen to you! I'd rather tickle you!" Olivia growled playfully as she continued to tickle her daughter. Ava started gasping for breath as she squirmed. Chuckling, Olivia stopped tickling Ava and hugged her. "I'll call for the food. You get the nail polish. Then, we can watch a scary movie."

"If we watch another movie, I'll fall asleep." Ava chuckled.

"Exactly, you don't sleep!" Olivia teased. "Now, go get the nail polish." She patted her daughter on the butt, shooing her. Ava stuck her tongue out at her, but went into Olivia's room.

Later, they had finished dinner. Olivia was painting Ava's toes while Ava hugged her knees to her chest. "Dad and I were talking the other day. He said that I snore just like you."

Olivia's jaw dropped. "I do not snore."

Ava laughed harder than she thought she would. "Mom! You snore! You wake up China!"

"Whatever!" Olivia retorted, her nose crinkling slightly. "I never snore! Maybe you're just like me and you silent snore."

"That's still snoring." Ava chuckled. She looked at her nails, which were freshly painted. "You're getting better at this."

"No, you're just getting better at sitting still." Olivia grinned, painting the last toe nail. "There, all done. We are all dolled up... for nothing." Ava giggled at her mother. "So, which movie are we watching? We've got _The Shining_ and _The Silence of the Lambs_."

Ava looked at the two movies. "Dad wants to watch _The Shining. _So, we should save it so he doesn't get mad at us." She chuckled when Olivia rolled her eyes. "What's _The Silence of the Lambs_ about?"

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know. The guy at the video store says it's one of the scariest movies he's seen." She put in the DVD and sat back down, wrapping an arm around her daughter. "It has Jodie Foster. That's all I know." Ava laughed and leaned into her mother. "Remember, it's just a movie."

Ava nodded. "Got it." They, both, would soon realize that the movie seemed to be much more real than they anticipated. Neither one had moved an inch when the movie ended and they were wide awake. "I'm definitely not sleeping now!"

"I didn't now it would be THAT scary!" Olivia said, raising her voice. "I thought it would be like _2-Headed Shark _or_ Gone_, not like that."

"Okay, _Gone_ wasn't even scary! That movie was wet my bed, crap my pants scary!" Ava said standing up.

Olivia stood up and took out the movie. "Oh, stop! It wasn't that bad."

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. "You were shaking worse than I was. Who the hell writes that kind of stuff?!"

"Hey! Language!" Olivia scolded. She looked at the DVD case. "Thomas Harris... just to let you know." She shuddered slightly thinking of the movie. "I don't ever want to meet a cannibal."

"Like anyone does?" Ava countered, bouncing slightly on her toes. She took a deep breath. "Let's just not think about it."

Olivia nodded once. "Okay." She put her hands on her hips and took a few deep breaths. "...I can't stop thinking about it." Ava groaned and dropped onto the couch, her face in the cushions. Olivia sat down, on the one cushion she wasn't laying on, and rubbed her back. "We just have to remember that we are not going to a prison to meet a serial killer cannibal anytime soon." She continued to rub her daughter's back. "Ava? C'mon, you're making me feel bad for showing this movie to... us."

Ava sat up and stared at Olivia with a blank expression. "I don't even know how to respond to that." She laid back down, putting her head in Olivia's lap. "Next time, let's watch a Pixar film. Like _Finding Nemo _or _A Bug's Life_."

"Deal." Olivia chuckled, stroking her daughter's hair away from her face. "Your father is going to kill me if I don't make you sleep for a couple of hours tonight. I'm already in trouble for scaring both of us."

"Okay." Ava chuckled. She sat up and grabbed her duffle bag. Slowly, she faced her mother outside the bathroom door. "Stay away from the glass, Clarice."

"Stop it!" Olivia screamed, making Ava laugh. She threw a pillow at her daughter. "I am going to get you." Ava rolled her eyes, but went into the bathroom. She came out a few moments later and walked into Olivia's room to find her already laying in bed, watching the TV in there. She hopped onto the bed. "Woah!" Olivia chuckled as she bounced slightly. "I didn't move as much when you were five and jumped onto my bed."

"I was sixty pounds lighter." Ava grinned, crawling up to the pillows and laying down.

Olivia turned off the TV and laid down beside her, tucking her hair back. "I'm a good mother, right?"

Ava became worried. "Of course, you are. Where is this coming from? Mom, you're scaring me."

"No, I just want to know if I'm a good mother. I don't exactly tell everyone, or anyone, that I have a daughter. I have been working with people for over a decade and they don't know I'm a mother. They don't even know I was married once." Olivia sighed. "I feel like I'm not a good mother to you."

"Mom, you're the best mother I could ask for." Ava said, hugging Olivia. "I love you more than anything. I don't care that your friends don't know about me. What you do could put me in danger if the wrong person finds out about me? Dad isn't exactly a private person."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, I know that. I never thought that your goofy father would be a politician, let alone on every magazine cover in site." She stared at her daughter a moment. "Your father and I discussed things, and... we decided that I should start telling people about you. I love you too, more than anything. And, I don't like hiding you. I want to be able to have you pick me up for our lunch dates instead of me rushing out, giving every excuse I can to get out of there." She kissed Ava's head. "Have I ever told you that you're my favorite?"

Ava chuckled. "I'm your only child. I have to be your favorite."

"But, I wouldn't want anyone else to be my child if it meant losing you." Olivia breathed. Ava smiled and hugged Olivia. Kissing her head, she turned out the lamp and laid down, rubbing her daughter's back. After a few moments, she leaned down to her ear. "Fssss!"

"NO!" Ava screamed, falling out of the bed. Olivia chuckled and looked over the edge at her daughter. "You're so mean."

Olivia helped her up. "I told you I would get you back."

**Please review! You guys are the best!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Please review! You guys are great! I have been watching Will & Grace bloopers for the past half hour.**

Olivia ran a hand through her hair as she walked into the squad room. The coffee, in her hand, was the only thing keeping her awake. She had woken up five times during the night with the feeling that their was a cannibal in her apartment. She sat down and smiled lightly at Nick. "Morning."

"Morning?" Nick almost asked as he took in his partner's appearance. Her eyes were droopy and she looked like she didn't sleep at all. "How was your weekend?"

"Good." Olivia nodded with a yawn. "My first weekend off in a month and I spend it watching scary movies that give me nightmares."

Nick chuckled. "What movies did you watch?"

Olivia rubbed her right eyes. "Well, I only watched one scary movie. It was _Silence of the Lambs_." Nick smiled as she yawned again. "I scared the crap out of Ava. We were freaking out the whole weekend."

"Who's Ava?" Nick asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Olivia paused and opened her mouth to speak, but Nick's phone rang. "Hold on." He answered his phone. Olivia wondered how she was going to tell him Ava was her daughter. He hung up a moment later. "We have a crime scene down in Central Park. What were you going to say?"

"Uh, it can wait until later." Olivia said shaking her head. "Let's go check out that crime scene." She got up from her desk, feeling more energetic now that there was work to do. When they walked onto the crime scene, Melinda was already there. "What happened?"

Melinda stood up. "She fell out of the tree." She said pointing up at the bloody tree above them. "She was raped after she was killed." She pointed to the vic's jaw. "The perp pressed down so hard on her jaw that he fractured it. She asphyxiated after that."

Nick squatted down near the body. "How long has she been here?"

"She's been here two days. I'd say she was dumped here early Saturday morning, between seven and nine." Melinda nodded.

"So, the rain washed all the evidence away." Olivia sighed. "Did she have an ID on her?" She asked looking at her face. Her eyes widened. "I know her."

Nick furrowed his eyebrows. "You do? Who is she?"

Olivia looked at him. "She's Tiffany Walters. She's Tripp Manning's campaign manager."

"You know Tripp Manning's campaign manager?" Melinda asked as Olivia stood up.

Olivia sighed. "Not very well. I know Tripp Manning though." With that said, she walked over to the CSU team, leaving Melinda and Nick with many questions. After looking over everything, she turned to Nick. "Amaro, let's go inform Manning."

Nick jogged over to Olivia before getting in the passenger side. "Shouldn't we inform the family?"

"She didn't have any." Olivia sighed as she started the car. She pulled out onto the street, making her way to Tripp's office.

"How do you know Tripp Manning?" Nick asked as he adjusted his jacket.

"Uh, we met in Vegas. We're really good friends." Olivia said, not wanting to go into detail at the moment.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows. "Since when do you hang out with politicians?"

Olivia smiled lightly. "When I met him, he was an aspiring actor. We kind of got stuck with each other. After a while, we became friends." She turned onto a new street, trying to get there fast to avoid further questions. When they reached the building with his office, she walked in with Nick.

Nick noticed there was a card scanner for the elevator. "I think we may need to take the stairs or get somebody to scan their card.

"I have one." Olivia said pulling it out and slipping it into the slot. The elevator doors opened and they walked in. "I'll explain everything later." The elevator took them to the twenty third floor. When the doors opened, Olivia stepped out with Nick behind her. Almost everyone they pasted, greeted Olivia with smiles and suggestions of getting a drink or having lunch sometime. Olivia smiled when she reached a different room. "Hey Tripp!"

Tripp looked up and smiled at Olivia. "Hey sweetie!" He stood up and kissed her cheek. "What's up?"

Olivia sighed. "I'm here on business."

"Who?" Tripp asked sitting back onto his desk. He linked his fingers together in his lap.

"Tiffany." Olivia sighed.

Tripp's jaw dropped. "Tiffany?" He shook his head, trying not to believe it. "Where'd you find her?"

Olivia pursed her lips together. "You don't want to know."

"Olivia, tell me." Tripp demanded, looking directly into her eyes. Olivia knew she shouldn't hide things from him when he got like this.

"We found her in Central Park." Olivia breathed, gauging his reaction. His eyes closed as he exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry, Tripp."

Nick felt like it was his turn to step in. "Do you know of anyone that would want to hurt Ms. Walters?"

Tripp's eyes shot to him. "Uh, basically anyone who would want to kill me would want to kill her." He shook his head. "I can't believe it. We've been working together for ten years. I just can't believe she's gone." He looked at Olivia. "Thanks for telling me in person, Liv." Olivia nodded, rubbing his back.

"Does Ms. Walters have an office here?" Nick asked. Tripp nodded at him. "It would be helpful if we could look through it."

"Uh, yeah. I have a key." Tripp said before going around his desk and opening a drawer. He pulled out a lanyard, with at least fifteen keys on it, and grabbed a specific one. "Her office is right across the hall."

Olivia put a hand on Nick's shoulder. "I'll be there in a minute." Nick nodded before leaving the office. She turned to Tripp. "I'm so sorry." Tripp nodded and stared at her. She knew him like a book sometimes. He hid his feelings just like her. She held out her arms to him. "Come here." Tripp looked at her for a moment before wrapping his arms around her, welcoming her embrace. "We'll find the guy that did this. I promise."

Tripp pulled back to look at her face. "You can't promise that." He kissed her forehead. "But, I know you will do everything to find him." He turned around and grabbed an envelope before handing it to her. "Also, they raised the tuition at Ava's school."

"Again?" Olivia asked, taking the envelope. "I swear; that school takes money just because they can." Tripp chuckled. She looked over the letter and gasped when she saw the tuition for her daughter's next year of high school. "Thirty-two thousand dollars?"

"Yeah, Liv, I can pay it. Honey, it's no problem." Tripp breathed gently taking her shoulders into his hands.

"No, I can pay it." Olivia nodded, folding the letter back up. "Why is it so much?"

Tripp sighed. "It's a private school. Plus, this is Manhattan." Olivia nodded. "Liv, just let me pay it."

Olivia shook her head. "No, she's my daughter too. I have the money. I don't spend it on myself." She looked across the hallway to find Nick searching through Tiffany's desk. "I should probably go help him."

"Yeah." Tripp nodded.

"I'll talk to you later." Olivia said patting his chest. She walked across the hallway and started searching through the papers on Tiffany's desk. "Have you found anything?"

Nick shook his head. "Not yet." He closed one drawer and opened the next one. "I thought you were dating Cassidy."

"Yep." Olivia said, not looking at him.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows. "Isn't Manning married?"

Olivia nodded. "Yeah, he is on his fourth marriage." She put the papers down, not finding anything that would help them.

Nick looked up at her. "Liv, how do you know him?"

"Uh,.." Olivia started, glancing at Tripp. "I told you. We've been friends for a long time."

"You two are more than just friends." Nick said sternly.

Olivia shook her head, getting irritated. "You know what? I don't have to explain this to you right now. We are working and the information you want me to indulge shouldn't be told to you this way."

Nick scowled. "Fine." He looked down into the drawer and pulled out letters. He opened one and his eyes widened. "I think I just found out who wanted to kill her."

**Please review! I love you guys! I love this story!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Please review!**

"One hundred and fifty-two hate letters were in her desk." Nick informed everyone as he dropped a box down on John's desk filled with the letters.

"How did you find them in her desk? She works with Tripp Manning. He has one of the highest security systems in the city. And, that's just his office." Cragen asked looking at the box skeptically. "You would have need permission from him to access her office."

Nick pointed at Olivia. "She had a key card that allowed us to even be on the same floor as him." Everyone turned to look at Olivia.

Olivia shrugged her shoulders and held out the card. "I'm really good friends with him."

"Exactly, how good?" John asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Shut up, John!" Olivia groaned before putting the card back in her wallet. "Look, he let us into the office. Tripp wants to find Tiffany's killer just as much as we do. He won't do anything. He's as harmless as a fly."

Fin furrowed his eyebrows. "How long have you known him?"

Olivia paused and ran a hand through her hair. "I've known him for about sixteen and a half years." She sighed seeing peoples' shocked faces. "This isn't about me and Tripp, this is about Tiffany Walters."

"Yes, but if you know Tripp too well, this would be a conflict of interest. What's your relationship with him?" Cragen asked.

Olivia paused again. "...He's...Tripp is my ex-husband." The shock seemed to spread throughout the squad room. She felt uncomfortable with all the new eyes on her. "Can we please talk somewhere more private?"

Cragen nodded and pointed to his office. They all followed Cragen into his office, standing in a half circle around Olivia. "Okay, first off, you are off the case." Cragen said, Olivia nodding. "Secondly, explain. Half of us have known you for over a decade. You have been working here for fifteen years and we just find out about this." He was getting more pissed off with every word that came out of his mouth.

"Yes, you are." Olivia nodded calmly. "Look, we got married in Vegas. We tried to make it last, but a year and a half later we divorced. I kept my name so that's why nothing really stood out on the application I turned in. We were officially divorced a couple days before a applied."

"You tried to make a Vegas wedding last?" Fin asked. "That just doesn't make since with me."

Olivia shook her head. "It doesn't have to."

John paused. "Unless... Olivia-"

"Shut up, John!" Olivia snapped.

"What were you going to say?" Amanda asked John, everyone ignoring Olivia's wishes.

Olivia glowered at them, but noticed Ava in the squad room with Tripp. Ava had tears rolling down her face. "Oh my God!" She breathed before running out. "Ava!"

Ava ran into her mother's arms, embracing her. Olivia cupped the back of her daughter's head and held her tighter. "I tried to stop her." Tripp said walking up and putting a hand on Olivia's cheek.

"Is it true? About Tiffany?" Ava asked, choking out the words.

Olivia stroked her daughter's hair, looking into her eyes. "I'm sorry, baby." Ava put her face in her mother's neck before sobbing. She looked at Tripp. "Did you tell her?"

"She found out on the news." Tripp said shaking his head. "Would you mind taking her tonight? Andy is going out to her mother's and I have to make an appearance on Tiffany's behalf. I don't want Ava to be alone tonight."

"Of course, I'll take her." Olivia nodded and patted his chest.

"Good, cause I already brought her bag." Tripp said holding it up.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "You just assume I'm free."

Tripp smiled lightly. "Well, you usually are." He kissed her cheek. "Do not watch anymore scary movies with her. I had to sleep on the couch with her last night. I'll talk to you later honey." He looked at his daughter. "Behave for your mother, will you?" Ava nodded. Tripp kissed her forehead. "Love you, Ava."

"Love you too, Daddy." Ava said, muffled by her mother's shoulder. Tripp hurried out of the squad room, leaving the bag by Olivia's desk. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Ava." Olivia breathed, kissing her daughter's head. She looked at her colleagues and rolled her eyes. "Yes, John, you were right. I have a daughter."

They all stared at her in disbelief. Cragen stepped forward. "Uh, why don't you bring her into my office?" Olivia looked at him before nodding and taking her into his office. They sat down on the couch while Cragen sat down at his desk.

Olivia brushed back her daughter's hair. "Baby, it'll be okay. Just remember that she's in a better place."

Ava nodded. "I know." She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweat shirt. She looked up to see Cragen and stood up. "You must be Don Cragen." She shook his hand. "I'm Ava Manning. I guess you already know that I'm Olivia's daughter."

"Yeah," Cragen said standing up. "I just found out literally thirty seconds ago."

"Yeah, I know that." Ava chuckled and looked at her mother. "He hasn't embarrassed you yet." She grinned when her mother rolled her eyes.

Cragen smiled, noticing Ava's laugh was similar to Olivia's. "Liv, why don't you finish up your report and then take Ava home?"

Olivia nodded once. "Okay. Ava, come on." She headed for the door.

"If she wants to stay here, that's fine. I wouldn't mind finding out more about your daughter that I haven't met until now." Cragen suggested. Ava smiled.

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "Okay?" She looked at her daughter. "I'll be at my desk if you need me."

"Okay Mom." Ava nodded. She watched as her mother left before her attention went to Cragen.

"So, how old are you?" Cragen asked, leaning against his desk. Ava was by the mirror looking into one of the interrogation rooms.

"Uh, I'm fifteen. I'll be sixteen in a couple of months." Ava said, looking around the office. "How long have you known my mom?"

Cragen thought. "Well, she started working here in '99. So, I have known her for fourteen and a half years." He paused. "That whole time, I didn't know she had a daughter or had been married."

Ava looked at him. "Not a lot of people do." She sat down on the arm of the sofa. "When my parents got divorced, the judge awarded custody to my dad since my mom was unemployed and wanted to become a detective. She gets me weekends and the week nights I go over to her place." She ran a hand through her hair. "She wanted to tell one person, but... it was Elliot Stabler." Cragen nodded understandingly. "I've met him. He's my volleyball coach this year."

"Wow, does Olivia know?" Cragen asked.

"No." Ava shook her head. "But, she'll find out this Wednesday when she comes to my parent teacher conferences. He's usually at the school and he likes to meet the parents there."

Later, Olivia was sitting on the couch, writing down things she need to get the next time she went shopping. She chuckled when Ava sat down in her lap without warning and huddled against her. "Well, hello."

"Hello." Ava yawned, dropping her head to Olivia's shoulder.

Olivia smiled. "You have school tomorrow. You should be in bed." She kissed her daughter's head, putting the pad of paper on her daughter's leg.

Ava shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. What are you doing?"

"Well, Christmas is coming up here in a month and a half. I was starting to think of things I should get for you." Olivia said rubbing her daughter's back. "What do you think? Does this look like something you want?"

Ava looked at the paper and chuckled. "You have a picture of uncle Simon in a fire truck."

"Exactly, would you like a fire truck?" Olivia asked with a smile, making her daughter laugh. "It's so hard to shop for you now. I don't know if I should get you something that will be good for you now or get you something that will be good for you in college."

"Just get me something I want." Ava smiled. "How would I need a fire truck at any time in my life?"

"What if you become a fire fighter?" Olivia asked. Ava laughed and took the paper. She flipped it over and grabbed the pen. "I will write down things I want and give it to you."

Olivia nodded and yawned. "Okay, that sounds like a plan. If I take off tomorrow off, will your dad mind if you take the day off from school?" Ava shook her head. "Good, I don't want to face my co-workers after today."

Ava snuggled into her mother. "You'll have to sooner or later." She paused before speaking again. "Your captain is very protective of you."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Olivia asked intrigued.

"Just the way he talked about you, it was like you were his daughter. Since you've known him forever, I guess it's natural."

Olivia smiled lightly. "Since when do we know anything about things that are natural?" Ava laughed. "Seriously? Natural is falling in love, getting married, getting pregnant, in that order. Your father and I messed that whole thing up."

"Well, if you didn't, you wouldn't have had me." Ava pointed out.

"That's a very good point, but you still have to follow those steps in that order." Olivia grinned, making her daughter chuckle. "We should go to bed."

Ava nodded. "Yeah, we should." She didn't make an attempt to move.

Olivia patted her daughter's leg. "You have to get up." Ava groaned, but did as her mother requested. She followed her mother into her room before dropping onto the bed. Olivia crawled into the bed with her and turned on her lamp, lighting up the dark room. She laid on her side, facing her daughter. "Did you like what your father said about Tiffany?"

"Yeah, he'll be more personable at the funeral though." Ava sighed. "That just doesn't sound right."

"It usually doesn't." Olivia breathed. She kissed her daughter's head. "I love you."

Ava smiled lightly. "I love you too, Mom."

Later that night, Ava's eyes shot wide open when she heard foot steps on her side of the bed. "Hello?"

"Hey baby, I know it's late, but I didn't see you all weekend and-" Brian started, but was cut off when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

Ava screamed as she hit the man with a baseball bat. Olivia sat upright and turned on the light, alarmed. Her daughter screamed again and hid her face in Olivia's shoulder. Olivia turned to find Brian down to his dress shirt which didn't cover everything that it should. "Oh my God! Brian put some pants on, or underwear for that matter." She held her daughter to her as she took the bat away.

Brian stumbled to put his clothes back on. "Who is this?"

"A scared girl now!" Olivia shouted. "What the hell were you doing?"

"I hadn't seen you all weekend and I guess I thought you'd be alone." Brian snapped.

"Ew!" Ava groaned into her mother's shoulder.

Olivia rubbed her daughter's back and sighed. "We really need to talk."

**Please review! Elliot is back!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Please review!**

"Why do I see the most horrifying things when I'm with you?" Ava asked her mother as they sat on the couch, Brian sitting in a chair by them.

"You have a daughter? And, you didn't tell me? Liv, we've been dating for a year!" Brian yelled standing up.

Olivia put her hand up, still sitting on the couch. "I know." She put a hand on her daughter legs that were curled up on the couch. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just... didn't tell you back when we worked together and I didn't think-"

"You're damn right you didn't think!" Brian shouted.

"Hey, shut your mouth!" Ava growled. "You have no idea what she has gone through to be a good mother. And, you never will understand!"

Brian's eyes widened. "What about you? She's been hiding you from everyone. A real mother would-" He didn't finish and instead was met with Olivia's hand slapping across his face. He stared at her, breathing hard.

Olivia's nose was flaring, anger evident. "Go ahead and finish that sentence."

"A real mother would let everyone know they had a daughter, or child." Brian said softer, almost inaudible. "What you did to her, that's what your mother did to you. No matter how hard you tried, you turned into your mother."

Ava had enough of this guy. "You're mine!" She shouted before hopping onto the coffee table with one foot before jumping onto him. He fell onto the floor as she started punching him. "You asshole!"

"Ava." Olivia said, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Her daughter continued to hit Brian. "Ava!" Ava looked up at her mother. Her arm, brought back behind her head, ready for another punch. Her face was red, eyes wide and piercing, nose flaring. "Baby, he's not worth it." She breathed putting her hands on her daughter's cheeks. Before she could blink, her daughter was laying on the floor gripping her arm.

Brian stood up after he pushed Ava off of him. "We're done."

"Good, now go!" Olivia yelled, pointing at the door. She hurried over to her daughter while Brian left, slamming the door shut. "Ava, honey, are you okay?"

"No! The stupid asshole broke my arm!" Ava growled, holding her arm to her torso.

"What?!" Olivia gasped, helping her daughter up. Ava cried out in pain again. "Let's get you to the hospital." After helping her daughter put her jacket on, they hurried to Mercy General. The doctor took Ava back to take x-rays while Olivia sat in the waiting room. She had her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. The words Brian said to her ran through her head right before she heard Tripp come in panting.

He walked closer to her. "Liv, honey, what happened?"

Olivia looked up and saw him before hugging him. She buried her face in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, putting his face in her hair. "I'm so sorry."

Tripp pulled her back to look at her face. "What happened?"

"Brian happened." She nearly growled. "He came by looking for me and didn't know Ava was going to be there. I told him Ava was my daughter. He started judging me and, before I could stop her, Ava was punching him after she tackled him on the floor. When I finally calmed her down, he threw her off of him. She said her arm twisted in the bar stool." Olivia wiped her eyes. "If I was a better mother-"

"Hey, you are a great mother. You don't always do the best things for our daughter, but you are a wonderful mother." Tripp said cupping her face.

Olivia sighed. "But, that's not all that happened." She watched as his eyebrows furrowed. "She also saw a little bit of 'little Brian'."

Tripp groaned. "Olivia!"

"It's not my fault he came in and stripped. He should know better. He didn't even call. He's lucky I didn't shoot him." Olivia defended herself. "I'm sorry. I feel bad enough already for everything that happened."

"I know you do." Tripp breathed. He scratched the back of his head and looked at Olivia. "What exactly did he say?" He saw Olivia retreat. "Liv!"

"Fine." Olivia surrendered, knowing he wasn't letting her dismiss this. "He said that I wasn't a good mother. A good mother would tell everyone they had a child. Then,... he said that I turned out to be my mother."

Tripp nodded twice before turning. "I'm going to kill him."

Olivia grabbed his arm. "Tripp!"

He turned to her. "He broke our daughter's arm and he insulted you. Why shouldn't I?"

"Because, I don't want you going to jail." Olivia reasoned. She rubbed his back, keeping a hand on his arm. "Let's just deal with Brian after we help our daughter. She's probably already upset because she's going to miss volleyball season." Olivia sighed.

"Upset? She's going to blow a fricken gasket. She plays volleyball year round. How do you think she's going to feel when she can't play at all?" Tripp argued.

"Okay, Tripp, just calm down. She will be fine. Just because she can't play doesn't mean she can't help the coach with practices. Maybe he'll let her help with managing the team. It's not like we're cutting it out of her life." Olivia reasoned, putting her hands on his cheeks. "Who knows? Her arm may not even be broken."

"You'd be wrong on that." The doctor said behind them in the doorway. They both turned to him. "She broken her humerus."

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed. "She broke her what?"

Dr. Clark chuckled. "It's a bone in between the elbow and the shoulder." He stepped closer to them. "Looking at the x-rays, I have concluded that she will need surgery for us to put it back into place."

Olivia groaned, putting her hands over her face. Tripp wrapped an arm around her. "Is that really necessary?"

"If you want it to heal properly, yes. If she doesn't have the surgery, she will never be able to use the arm like she's supposed to." He explained. "We can do the surgery right now if you want us to. We just have to go over the paperwork, the procedure, and any medications she's on."

Tripp sighed and looked down at Olivia. "Let's go look at the paperwork." He and Olivia followed the doctor to his office.

"Okay, first, I'll explain the procedure. I've already explained it to Ava. The procedure can be done three different ways. It just depends on the position of the bones when I get in there. The way the x-rays showed it, it looks like I'm going to have to put a few cuts on the elbow. These cuts are made on the inside and the outside of the elbow. I will put pins into the bone to hold it in place. These pins will show, but they will be taken out in three weeks. We close the skin up with stitches. I'll probably use dissolving stitches and then I will put a plaster cast over that. That will go from her hand to her bicep. After the surgery, we will keep her for one or two nights and recommend probably a week off from school. After that, she can go back. But, no volleyball or physical activity of any kind. In a couple weeks, we will see how it's healing. If it is healing properly, we'll be able to take the cast and the pins off. I will give her exercises to do to help gain the muscle back in her arm. She won't be able to have good elbow movement for about six weeks after the operation. People tend to forget about that and then they injure their arm again. After about six months, she'll be able to feel the full mobility she felt before her arm broke. She said that she is only out for volleyball and soccer. Soccer doesn't start until this spring, so I'm not worried about that. Volleyball, on the other hand, is out of the question. She is going to miss this season." Dr. Clark explained.

"What are the complications?" Olivia asked, concerned about what could happen when her daughter was on the table.

Dr. Clark nodded once. "There is a very small risk that their could be complications with her heart of lungs. It's very minimal; I've never seen it. She could get an infection where we put the pins in. If the infection is deeper, it could go to the bloodstream. We would keep Ava here if that happened and have a small plastic tube in one of her veins to help get rid of the infection. Uh, the muscles in her arm could be damaged, nerves also. Blood supply could be cut off and we'd have to do another procedure. Other than that, the bone could die from necrosis and we'd have to see what happens to it to come up with further treatment for her. The operation is not simple, but it's not complicated. I've done this many times. You're daughter will be fine."

Olivia looked at Tripp to see him nod once. "Okay, let's do it."

"Okay, we just need you two to sign the consent forms. Also, we need you to tell us what medications she's on and any allergies she might have." Dr. Clark said handing Tripp the paper.

Once Tripp heard allergies, he handed the paper to Olivia. "You know everything she's allergic to."

Olivia nodded. "Too many things." She looked over the paper and started listing off the things Ava was allergic to.

Tripp looked over the consent form. "And, this is the only way to give her back full mobility of her arm?"

"I'm sorry to say, but yes. Surgery is the last thing we want when it comes to broken bones or anything for that matter." Dr. Clark sighed. "Once you sign the papers, we will let you see Ava while we prep for surgery." He paused as the parents looked over the forms. He grabbed another one from his desk. "Also, this is optional. If you let us, any 'left over' tissue that we had to remove would be used for testing. But, that is completely up to you two. We don't have to have it, but we always ask."

Tripp looked at Olivia and knew her answer right away. "No thanks. We don't want part of our daughter to be experimented on." The doctor nodded, putting the form back.

Olivia signed the medication form and handed it to Tripp. "You know what medication she's on."

"Yep." Tripp breathed before handing her the consent form. Olivia glanced through it before signing it. She handed it to the doctor before Tripp handed him the medication form.

"Okay, I will show you to Ava's room." Dr. Clark said before getting up and leading them to room 420. He opened the door and let them enter before leaving to prep.

Olivia hurried over to Ava and hugged her carefully before examining the temporary cast on her daughter's left arm. "I'm sorry I let this happen."

Ava groaned. "Mom, you didn't let this happen. Okay? It was my fault. I shouldn't have attacked Brian in the first place."

"But, you were calm when he knocked you over. He didn't make a move at you when you were punching him." Olivia reasoned. She rubbed her daughter's back. "Nobody gets away with hurting my baby."

"There's my girl." Tripp breathed, tearing up.

Ava started tearing up looking at him. "Daddy."

Tripp hugged her, careful of her arm. "I'm proud of you for sticking up for your mother."

"You want to kill him, don't you?" Ava asked against his chest.

"Hell yes." He breathed. Olivia let out a sad chuckle, tearing up herself. Tripp pulled back, stroking his daughter's hair back. "How are you feeling?"

Ava shrugged and looked at her hands. "I'm scared. The last time I had surgery, I almost died."

"You are going to be fine. Okay?" Olivia said mostly to herself as she looked into her daughter's eyes. "We are going to see you after the surgery and you are going to be fine. You're not going anywhere."

The door opened behind them. A nurse came in with a clip board. "We're ready for Ava Manning."

Both Tripp and Olivia looked at their daughter again and walked with her out to the hallway before she left with the nurse. Ava looked over her shoulder several times to look at her parents before she disappeared at the far end of the hall. Tripp and Olivia stood staring. "I hope I didn't just sign her life away." Tripp choked out.

Olivia looked up at him and pulled him close, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Tripp, she's going to be fine." She started having a hard time getting her words out. "We are going to see her alive and well in a couple of hours. She's going to be fine." She whispered, praying her words were true."

**Please review! Love you guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Please review! Love you guys! Check out my new poll question!**

Olivia wiped her eyes again while Tripp rubbed her back. It had been three hours since they had gone into surgery and she was starting to wonder what was going on. "Tripp?" She croaked.

"What, honey?" Tripp asked, leaning forward and wrapping his arm around her.

"She's going to be okay, right?" Olivia asked looking up at him.

Tripp teared up and kissed her forehead before pulling her to his chest. "She's going to be fine. She has to be." He rubbed her shoulder as she leaned into him.

Footsteps were heard in the doorway. "Ava Manning's family?" The nurse called. Tripp and Olivia looked up and hurried over to her. "Ava is out of surgery. We did end up putting pins in her arm. We have a plaster cast from her hand to her elbow. Before you go home, we will tell you everything that you need to do in order to keep Ava on track. Right now, she is a little groggy. It's normal at this point. Her pain killers are going to make her sleepy and a little out of it for the next day or two."

"Will she be out before her teacher conferences on Wednesday night? It seemed really important to her when she mentioned it." Tripp asked.

The nurse nodded. "You guys should be able to go there. I'm just warning you that she needs to take it easy. No physical activity of any kind." She hugged her clipboard to her chest. "You guys can see her if you want to."

"I'm her mother. Of course, I want to." Olivia breathed, hurrying past the nurse and going to the room her daughter was in before. Tripp quickly apologized to the nurse and hurried after Olivia. They both burst into their daughter's room to find her studying the remote. "Ava?"

Ava looked up. "Hey Mom!" She held up the remote. "Aren't remotes funny? They look so weird but they do so much."

Tripp chuckled going over and kissing his daughter's head. "I think the pain killers are working." Olivia nodded in agreement before cupping the back of her daughter's head. "How are you feeling?"

"About what?" Ava asked.

"I guess that answers that question." Tripp nodded once.

Olivia chuckled. "It looks like you're going to be here for a couple of days. The nurse said no physical activity of any kind. That means exactly what she said."

"Psssssh!" Ava chuckled, making her hair blow away from her face. "Since when do nurses know best?"

"Since they follow what the doctors say." Tripp reminded her. He tapped her nose. "Your mother and I are going to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

Ava grinned and patted her father's cheek. "When have I done anything stupid?"

Tripp stared at his daughter. "That's a question that would take years to answer."

Olivia's phone vibrated in her pocket. She looked at the caller ID to find that it was Cragen. "I have to take this. I will be right back." She walked out to the hallway before taking the call. "Cap, right now isn't a good time."

"That's why I'm calling. Pictures of Tripp are shown on the news of him going into the hospital. He said that he was going to see his daughter. Is Ava okay?" Cragen asked.

"Uh, she's got a broken arm. She just got out of surgery." Olivia breathed, tearing up again. "It was a freak thing."

"What happened?" Cragen asked.

Olivia looked in on her daughter. "Arrest Brian Cassidy and I'll tell you."

A few days later, Ava was discharged from the hospital. Olivia, Tripp, and Andy took her to the teacher conferences. When they first walked into the school, Ava looked at all of them. "I'm going to go talk to my volleyball coach. When you guys are done, you can get me there."

"I don't trust you in a gym when you're not supposed to be doing anything physical." Tripp said pointing a finger at her.

Ava groaned. Olivia held up a hand. "Why don't you and I go talk to your English teacher and then we can go see your volleyball coach?" She looked at Tripp who nodded. She looked at her daughter.

"Fine." Ava grumbled. "You don't trust me but you're the politician. There's something wrong with that." She walked down the hallway towards her English room.

Tripp looked at Olivia when she started chuckling. "What's so funny?"

Olivia shook her head, still laughing. "She just makes a valid case." She hurried after Ava and followed her into her English room. After talking with her teacher, Olivia was rather impressed with her daughter's grades. When they got out of the room, she hugged her daughter. "I am really proud of you."

"Why?" Ava asked with a smile.

"You are doing well in school and you've had a lot of other things going on. I'm just proud of you." Olivia chuckled, wrapping an arm around her daughter's waist and kissing her head. "Let's go meet your volleyball coach."

"I already know him." Ava chuckled as they walked down the steps to the gym. "I'm pretty sure you know him too."

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "Really?"

A voice boomed in the gym then. "MANNING!" Olivia turned to the voice as Ava chuckled. Elliot was standing with a whistle around his neck. He had a clipboard in one hand and a volleyball in the other. He walked over. "What happened to-" He froze when he saw Olivia. "Liv?"

"Coach, this is my mom, Olivia Benson." Ava smiled. "Mom, this is my coach, Elliot Stabler."

"Elliot... is your coach?" Olivia asked in a state of shock. Ava nodded at her mother.

Elliot was still trying to comprehend what was happening. "Olivia... you're a mother?"

Olivia groaned, running a hand through her hair. "Guilty."

**Please review! I found out something horrible today. Over in Yemen, and eight year old girl died on her wedding night. HER WEDDING NIGHT! If that's not bad enough, she died of internal injuries doctor believed were caused by having sexual intercourse with her 40 year old husband! It's legal over there! I was like WTH! There is something wrong with this world! It wasn't even illegal over there! If I got married when I was eight years old, I'd be married for seven, almost eight, years. That's crazy! I feel terrible for that little girl! I hope somebody does something about this! That's horrible!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Please review!**

"He's her volleyball coach?" Tripp asked. Olivia just nodded with tired eyes. "We have to pull her out of volleyball completely."

Olivia's eyes widened. "Do you want to die in the hands of our daughter?" She heaved out a breath. "Why do you want to pull her out?"

"He left you and hurt you. You trusted him more than you trusted me and I am the father of your child. He told you for better or worse. You can't just break that promise." Tripp argued.

"We broke that promise." Olivia pointed out. "Look, I'm not happy about this, but... I don't want our daughter murdering us because we didn't let her stay on the volleyball team." She looked back in the gym to find Elliot and Ava talking. "I am going to go talk to him. You take Ava to go see her other teachers that you haven't seen yet."

Tripp stared at her for a moment before nodding once. He put a hand on the small of her back as they walked back into the gym. "Ava, honey, let's go talk to your other teachers."

Ava turned to her father. "Can't I stay here?"

"No, get your butt in gear and let's get moving." Tripp said shaking his head.

Ava looked at her mother for some support. Olivia shook her head. "I'm siding with your father on this. I want to talk to Elliot, alone."

"C'mon, your math teacher is last on our list and we're usually in there for thirty minutes talking about your behavior." Tripp said smiling lightly at her.

"You said I get it from Mom." Ava smirked as she walked to him.

Olivia's eyes widened. "Tripp!"

Tripp froze and looked at Ava. "Why do you always get me in trouble?" He kissed Olivia's head. "I'll talk to you later." He said hurrying out of the gym.

"I will get you later, Manning." Olivia called back before turning to Elliot. He stared back at her, emotionless. Olivia didn't know whether that was good or bad. "Why did you decide to coach my daughter's volleyball team?"

"I didn't know she was your daughter." Elliot said truthfully. "In fact, I didn't know you had a daughter period."

Olivia could tell he was getting agitated. "Well, I thought I could trust you. I guess we both didn't trust each other enough." She snapped. She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not pulling Ava out of volleyball just to make myself happy. I don't really want to end up murdered by my daughter. So, she can stay on the team. But, her doctor said that she can't do any type of physical activity. If you so much as let her touch a volleyball, I will hunt you down."

Elliot's nose flared. "I wouldn't jeopardize Ava like that. She's my best player. I want her to heal so I can have her play next year." He took a step closer to her. "And,... I'm sorry for leaving. But, it was for your own good."

"Since when is my best friend disappearing from my life a good thing?" Olivia asked looking straight into his eyes. She searched his blue orbs. "You have no idea how much pain you caused me. I don't think I could even explain that to you. I'm not one to share my personal feelings, but... this... I will. Every night, for a year, I cried wondering where you went. I went crazy wondering if you were okay. Then, one day, I realized that you didn't care for me like a best friend should."

"I will always care." Elliot nearly growled.

"Really?" Olivia asked honestly. "Because I can't tell anymore." She took in a deep breath before speaking again. "I'm assuming you have questions of your own."

Elliot shrugged. "Oh, not really. I'm just wondering when you had a daughter." He said sarcastically. "I thought you trusted me with everything."

"I thought the same thing about you." Olivia shot back.

"Okay, Olivia, I left. We've established that. But, that doesn't excuse the fact that you hid your daughter from everyone you think of as family." Elliot said louder this time. "I just don't get why you would want to hide her."

Olivia shook her head. "I didn't. But, after the divorce, Tripp got custody because I wanted to become a detective. It was too demanding of a job. I didn't want people judging me because of it." She paused. "It doesn't mean I don't love my daughter."

Elliot nodded once. "I know you love her. If you didn't, Ava wouldn't adore you the way she does." He paused. "She said that Cassidy broke her arm."

Olivia's eyes darted to the floor at the mention of his name. "Yep, she attacked him after he found out I had a daughter."

"What'd he say?" Elliot asked, becoming protective.

Olivia opened her mouth, but then shook her head. "I'm not doing this with you. If you want to be friends again, you're going to have to work for it. I'm not just going to welcome you back with open arms. I did that when we met and it only ended with pain for me." She tucked a stand of hair behind her ear. "I should get back to Ava."

Elliot nodded. "Probably." He paused. "If something is wrong, please tell me. I left because I thought you'd be better off without me. I guess I was wrong. And, I'm sorry for that."

"Good." Olivia said shortly. "There's a start." She paused again before turning on her heal. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Why am I seeing you tomorrow night?" Elliot asked confused.

Olivia smirked, turning to face him as she walked backwards. "I'm coming to support my daughter at a volleyball game." She turned back around, leaving a grin on Elliot's face.

Ava saw her mother walk out of the gym and hurried over to her. "Please don't tell me you took me off the team."

"No, I didn't. Elliot and I just talked." Olivia said shaking her head. "He said that you're the best player that he has. You're a freshman."

"That just tells you how good I am. Plus, half the girls here are afraid of the ball." Ava chuckled. "Dad and Andy are going to go talk to my band teacher."

Olivia smirked. "You want to go get ice cream, don't you?" Ava nodded sticking out her bottom lip and making puppy eyes. "A pigeon is going to poop on that lip of yours."

"Okay, I believed that when I was five, not anymore." Ava said putting a hand on her hip.

Olivia laughed and wrapped an arm around her daughter before they walked towards the doors. She held the door open for her daughter before looking towards the gym. Elliot was leaning against the door frame. He waved at her with a smile on his face. She couldn't help but smile and wave before going through the door.

**Please review! Love you guys!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Please review!**

Olivia walked into the squad room Thursday morning before she took a seat at her desk. Before she could do anything, Cragen was already at her desk. "What the hell happened with Ava and Brian?"

"Brian broke my daughter's arm." Olivia said simply.

"Yeah, he told me the story. Ava tackled him and he pushed her off of him in self defense." Cragen reminded her.

"No!" Olivia said, getting irritated. "I told him Ava was my daughter. He told me I was acting like my mother. Ava tackled him and attacked him. When I calmed her down, he pushed her off of him and stormed out of my apartment. That's when her arm broke."

Cragen paused. "How did her arm break?"

Olivia huffed out a breath. "Her arm tangled up in the barstool. She broke her humerus."

"Her what?" Cragen asked.

Olivia chuckled. "That was my reaction. It's the bone in her upper arm." She rubbed her knuckle right above her eyebrow, feeling her day was not going to be as easy as she hoped it would. "Why? What happened with Brian?"

"Well, with the story he told us, we had to look into his story. We need to talk to you and your daughter." Cragen sighed, putting his hands into his pockets.

"What?!" Olivia nearly screeched. People turned to look at her and Cragen. Seeing this, Cragen took her arm and guided her to his office. He closed the door before she spoke again. "You are not talking to my daughter! If you want to know anything, you will talk to me. This shouldn't even be our case."

Cragen huffed out a breath before taking a seat. "Well, since the vic's mother is a SVU detective, the perp is a narcotics detective, and the father of the vic is a well known politician, IAB thinks this should stay here." He watched as Olivia paced his office. "You know how this process works, Liv."

Olivia looked down at him before sitting down. "I know I do, but... she's my daughter. I just want to protect her."

"I still can't get used to that." Cragen said shaking his head. He paused before speaking again. "How was Ava's parent/teacher conference last night?" Olivia shrugged, avoiding the big news. "Really? You weren't shocked when you saw Elliot?"

Olivia jaw dropped. "How did you know that Elliot was there?"

Cragen smirked. "Ava told me that he was her volleyball coach. She knew that you and Elliot were partners." He grinned. "You really thought she didn't know."

"That little snot!" Olivia breathed. "Of course, I told her about Elliot, but I never showed her a picture of him. She just knew his name was Elliot and all the stories I told her." She stood up. "How did she do that? Why does everybody know things before me? Why didn't you tell me? I had to run into him and explain why I didn't tell him about Ava."

"Well, he deserves to know that reason. But, you deserve to know why he left. Also, I didn't tell you because you guys needed to see each other sooner or later." Cragen explained. "You two deserve a lot from each other. You both betrayed each other. I think you two just need to get everything out in the open and start building your friendship back up so you both can be on solid ground."

Olivia looked at her boss for a moment. "What are you talking about? I have been fine. I have had solid ground."

Cragen interrupted her rant. "Bullshit, Olivia." Olivia looked at her boss in surprise. "The past two years, you have not been yourself. You have become a hot headed detective. Sure, you still do you job and get things done the way you always have, but... the Olivia Benson I knew isn't here. Elliot brings that out in you. He brings out the real you. I don't care how much you 'loved' Brian. I'm sorry to tell you this Olivia, but he's not for you." He paused. "And, you knew that before you two started going out again."

"I did not!" Olivia refused.

"Yes," Cragen nodded. "Yes, you did. You can't lie to me, Olivia. You know you can't. You really suck at it when you don't have Elliot to back you up." He looked at his clock and sighed. "Where's Ava?"

Olivia looked down at her watch and sighed. "It's almost four, so Tripp probably took her down to the school to help Elliot with volleyball practice. If you plan on talking to her during practice, you might as well shoot that plan to hell. Volleyball is my daughter's kryptonite." She rubbed her forehead in frustration.

Cragen stood up. "Well, she's going to talk to me. Let's go." Olivia's jaw dropped as she watched her boss walk out of the office. She got up and hurried to catch up with him.

Olivia walked into the gym and saw Elliot and her daughter sitting on the one side of the volleyball court. The rest of the volleyball team was either sitting on the bench or they were playing a practice game. Elliot was looking down at his clip board while Ava sat next to him, watching the game. One of the girls playing set the ball backwards. It flew up and landed directly on Elliot's head. Olivia smiled hearing her daughter's laugh as Elliot smiled at her. He picked up the volleyball at his feet and threw it back to the girls before he saw Olivia. He looked at Ava and again and pointed Olivia out to her. Ava looked up and smiled at her mother. She smiled back and waved before she heard Cragen's footsteps behind her. Elliot and Ava both looked at them before Elliot turned to the team. "Girls, go change for our game." He and Ava walked over as the other girls ran to the locker rooms to change. "Don?"

"Hello Elliot." Cragen smiled lightly. He shook hands with Elliot. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has." Elliot nodded as he held the clipboard in his left hand, at his side. He looked at Olivia before looking back at Cragen. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh, I need to talk to Ava about Brian Cassidy." Cragen sighed before looking at Ava.

Ava furrowed her eyebrows. "Didn't Brian tell you what happened?"

"Yeah, and he is claiming self defense." Cragen said. "He says that he pushed you off when you were attacking him."

"Well, I was attacking him, but he didn't push me off until I stopped punching him." Ava explained. She took in a deep breath before closing her eyes. "Excuse me for a moment." She turned on her heel and walked out of the gym.

Elliot watched her for a moment. "Oh no! She's heading for the weight room." He started running towards Ava and picked her up by her waist right before she was about to head downstairs.

"Elliot! Let me go! Just give me ten hits!" Ava bargained as he brought her back into the gym, kicking in his grasp.

Elliot put her down, keeping her in place. "I'm not letting you injure yourself anymore than you already are."

Ava tried pulling away. "Stop treating me like I'm fragile."

Olivia put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and bent her knees to be eye level with her. "Ava, baby, you need to listen to him. We need you to take it easy so you can heal." Ava huffed out a breath, making her hair move out of her face. "Look, Don wants to talk to you and get your statement. Once you are done, he will leave and we'll stay here for your game."

Ava stared at her mother before looking at Cragen. "Fine, but I'm not happy about it."

"Of course, you're not." Olivia chuckled, kissing her daughter's head. She tapped her daughter's butt. "Go talk." She watched as she and Cragen started walking away. "And Don?" He turned to look at her. "If my daughter wants to stop, you stop."

"Since when did you become Captain?" Cragen asked with a smirk. He followed Ava out of the gym.

Elliot looked at Olivia before he spoke. "I guess this gives us time to talk a little bit more." Olivia nodded, looking up at him. He forgot how beautiful her big brown eyes were. "I'm sorry."

Olivia studied him. "You already said that."

"That doesn't mean I feel any better about it." Elliot breathed.

Olivia nodded once. "I'm sorry too." She breathed looking down at her shoes, crossing her arms over her chest. "I really missed you."

Elliot lowered his voice to a whisper seeing the pain he inflicted on her when he left. "I missed you too." He put a hand on her shoulder, barely grazing it when her arms wrapped around him. It took him a moment to realize that she was hugging him. He wrapped his arms around her, one cupping her head. He rested his cheek on the top of her head, loving the feeling of her in his arms. The moment was interrupted when Ava hurried in.

"Mom! Mom! You can't let him do this!" Ava pleaded, tears brimming in her eyes.

Olivia turned to her daughter and held her arm, that wasn't broken, gently. "What? What can't I let him do?"

"You can't let Cragen arrest Dad." Ava breathed. "He just got a call. Someone said they saw Dad raping Tiffany."

"What?!" Olivia gasped right before Cragen came in. "Cragen, Tripp did not rape Tiffany."

Cragen sighed. "Well, I need to take care of every loose end. If somebody says they saw him, I have to look into it. Where is he?"

Olivia ran a hand through her hair. "He is in Washington for the next two days." She teared up. "There is no way he could have done this."

"Melinda said that Tiffany was murdered and dumped Saturday morning between seven and nine. Can you alibi him?" Cragen asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

Olivia nodded. "I went to spend the day with Ava. He left around eight thirty after he called Andy. After that, he went to a birthday party where Andy and their two sons were."

"So, he had a half an hour." Cragen nodded. "That's plenty of time to get to Central Park, from their brownstone, and dump her body. We need his DNA as soon as possible."

"Dad isn't going to like this. This will ruin him if you guys drag him down to the station to take his DNA." Ava groaned.

"Well, we can test your DNA. He is your father." Cragen suggested, seeing the danger come into Olivia's eyes.

Olivia pointed at him. "You are not poking and prodding my daughter." She nearly growled stepping in front of Ava.

"It's either that or we bring in Tripp Manning." Cragen reasoned. Olivia looked at her daughter and groaned, hating the situation.

"Mom, I want to do this for Dad. It's a simple DNA test. A swab in the mouth, right?" Ava shrugged looking at Cragen. He nodded his head once before taking out a cotton swab. He handed it to Ava before she put it in her mouth and handed it back to him. "It's not going to match."

Cragen nodded once. "Hopefully, you're right."

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	9. Chapter 9

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"The DNA from Ava Manning does not have any of the same alleles in the semen that was found in Tiffany Walters." Melinda informed Olivia and Cragen.

"See, I told you he didn't do it. Tripp could never do that." Olivia pointed out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Cragen nodded once. "So, we can cross Tripp Manning off of our list."

"Not so fast." Melinda interrupted. Cragen and Olivia looked at her. "It didn't matter if her DNA matched or not."

"What do you mean? She's his daughter. If Tripp raped someone, Ava's DNA would be pretty similar to Tripp's." Olivia concluded, crossing her arms over her chest.

Melinda nodded. "Yes, I know that and you two know that. But, Barba doesn't want any loose ends in this case. Especially, since Tripp Manning is involved. We have a politician and a sex crimes detective involved in this case. If we don't cover all of our bases, we can get screwed really fast. So, I am going to need to take Tripp Manning's DNA once he gets back from Washington."

Olivia groaned. "So, Tripp is going to get buried for coming here and Ava had to give up her DNA for nothing."

"It was a simple mouth swab, Liv." Cragen said confused. "We didn't put needles into her or anything."

"I really don't care." Olivia said shaking her head. She looked at Melinda. "Hair works, right?" Melinda nodded. "Okay, I have Tripp's comb." Olivia said before opening her purse.

Cragen furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought he was married to Andy?"

Olivia took out the comb and handed it to Melinda. It was in a plastic case, sealed by a zipper. "Yep, but there are some weeks he spends more time with me than he does with her." She looked at Melinda. "He's the only one that uses that comb. His prints should be the only ones on the comb though."

"Okay, I should have the results by tomorrow morning." Melinda nodded, taking the comb.

"Also, I'm going to need that comb back when you're done with it." Olivia said, scratching her temple with her thumb. Cragen looked at her questioningly. "It's Tripp's favorite comb."

Melinda smiled lightly. "You're close with your ex."

Olivia nodded. "Well, he was all I had back then. That was until Ava came." She looked down at her feet. "Are we done?"

"Yeah." Cragen said after a pause. Olivia nodded once before walking away. He turned to Olivia. "Do you talk to her?"

"The only one she ever talked to was Elliot, but... we don't know her as well as we thought." Melinda sighed before going to work on the comb.

Olivia sighed walking into her apartment. She tossed her jacket onto her counter before going to her room and changing. After turning on her TV, she curled up into her couch and relaxed, ready to relieve herself of all stress. When her phone rang, she pleaded to her phone. "Please don't be work. Please don't be work. Please don't be work." She grabbed her phone off of the coffee table and was happy when she saw Tripp's name on the screen. "You can't go one day without calling me, can you?"

Tripp chuckled on the other end. "I have known you for sixteen and a half years. I watched you give birth to our daughter and threaten to kill me when you were in labor." He paused. "Plus, Ava called me saying that somebody accused me of raping Tiffany."

"I know you could never do that." Olivia breathed. "I gave them your favorite comb so they could test your DNA."

"You what?!" Tripp asked.

Olivia laughed. "Don't worry. I will get it back tomorrow morning." She rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Are you still going to come back home on Friday?"

Tripp sighed. "Who knows? With this crowd, I could be back on Friday or I could be back on Monday." He yawned. "Sometimes, I wish I had your job."

Olivia chuckled. "No, you don't."

"Yeah, I could never lie to you about that one." Tripp smiled. "I love my job, no matter how demanding it is."

"You and me both." Olivia said laying back on her couch.

Tripp slid his shoes off before sitting on his hotel bed. "So, how is Ava doing? I don't trust her when it comes to feelings."

"Good call." Olivia chuckled. "Well, she's stressed about volleyball and Tiffany's case. I missed her game tonight because of this stupid DNA thing. She's not taking it easy on herself." She paused. "We should go on a family vacation this year. We haven't been on one since she was nine. We all deserve a break from New York for a while."

Tripp nodded. "Yeah, I'll figure out something for us to do." He paused, knowing this topic could be sore. "How's Elliot?"

Olivia looked up at her ceiling, staring at the patterns before answering. "We're making progress."

"That's good. I'd like to take credit for you, but we both know he's the one that knows you best. I still don't know about your father." Tripp pointed out.

"It's something you don't need to know." Olivia sighed. "I'll tell you someday."

"In other words, you'll tell me when I'm resting in my casket." Tripp smirked.

Olivia laughed. "Who knows? It could be when you're resting in the ground." She chuckled before looking at her TV. "Brian is trying to pull self defense."

Tripp nearly growled. "She's fifteen. He's pushing fifty. He had it coming."

"Yeah, but if he gets a good lawyer, it could get ugly." Olivia breathed. She felt a joke pop into her mind and decided to tease him. "We could go to Vegas for a vacation."

"Are you looking to get married again?" Tripp asked with a smile. Olivia laughed on the other end. "The last time we were there, we got drunk married and you got pregnant. I love Ava, more than anything. But, I'd rather not get in that much trouble again."

Olivia smirked. "Yeah, your mother wasn't so happy with me last time."

Tripp chuckled. "No, but my dad loved you." He looked at his watch and sighed. "I should probably get to sleep."

Olivia looked at her own clock hanging on the wall. "I probably should too. Night Pooky!"

"Night Olivia." Tripp laughed before hanging up. Olivia hung up before putting her phone back on the coffee table. She turned off her TV and fell asleep on the couch before she could stop herself.

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	10. Chapter 10

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Olivia sat at her desk doing paperwork when she felt somebody grab her arm. She looked up to find Nick. Before she could ask him what was wrong, he had pulled her up and was taking her into an interrogation room. He closed the door behind them and locked it. "What the hell, Nick?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Nick nearly shouted. "How could you?"

"How could I do what?!" Olivia asked.

"How could you trick Tripp into fatherhood?!" Nick boomed, throwing the file on the table. It made a slapping noise that would make anybody else cringe.

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about? Have you not seen my daughter Ava?! I didn't trick Tripp into anything!"

Nick opened the file and pulled out a paper. "Then, why doesn't his DNA match Ava's?!"

Olivia froze. "What?" She ripped the paper from his hand and looked at it. She sank into the chair as she read the charts. "Oh my God!"

"You didn't know?" Nick asked, surprised.

Olivia shook her head. "Tripp and I got married in Vegas. We just assumed. I guess we never really did make sure Ava was his." She grabbed the file and looked through it. "Shit!" She breathed before closing the file and slapping it onto the table. She put her head in her hands and her elbows on the table.

Nick sat down across from her. "We know Tripp didn't rape Tiffany. His DNA didn't match the DNA on Tiffany."

"I have to go talk to Tripp." Olivia said, not thinking.

"I thought he was in Washington." Nick said, putting his hands on her shoulders.

Olivia registered what he said and backed away. "Dang it!" She ran a hand through her hair. "How am I going to tell Ava? How am I going to tell Tripp?"

Nick groaned. "I don't know." He leaned back in the chair. "If somebody told me that Zara wasn't mine, I don't think I could take it. I watched her grow up. I watched my ex-wife give birth to her. She's mine."

Olivia stood up, grabbing the file. "You are not helping me." She walked into the squad room and grabbed her purse and jacket. She went into Cragen's office and saw him at his desk. "Hey Don, is it okay if I head out early?"

"Do you have the Ellis case file done?" Cragen asked, closing a file on his desk and looking up at her.

"Yeah." Olivia nodded.

"There's your answer. Say hi to Ava for me." Cragen waved before looking down at a new file.

Olivia huffed out a breath before leaving the building. She hailed a taxi and pulled out her phone. _Call me when you can. We really need to talk, Tripp.__- Liv_ After arriving at her apartment, she sat down wondering what she was going to say to Tripp. People in this situation ended up dead because of this. Now, she knew Tripp wouldn't kill her, but he would be mad enough to stop speaking to her. Of course, Ava would be a lot rougher on her. Olivia groaned at the situation she was in. How could this happen? Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard her phone going off. The screen flashed on the coffee table. Tripp's picture popped up. Taking a deep breath, Olivia answered the phone and put it up to her ear. "Hey Tripp."

"Hey, what's up? I saw your text. I don't have another meeting for another two hours. So, I figured now would be a good time." Tripp explained as he loosened his tie.

Olivia teared up, hating to tell him over the phone. "I found out something today."

Tripp become worried when he heard the quiver in his ex-wife's voice. "Liv, honey, what is it?"

"You are going to hate me for this." Olivia breathed. She wiped her eyes before continuing, her voice cracking. "Melinda tested your DNA. Your DNA didn't match Ava's. I'm so, so sorry, but she's not your daughter. I had no idea; I swear. If I did, I would've make you divorce me way back then. Ava is still your daughter. You were there for her birth. You're the one that picked her up when she was down. You took care of her when she was sick. You provided for her. She's just not biologically yours. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am. I didn't even think that she may not be yours back then. We had gotten married; I just assumed." She didn't hear anything for a few moments. "Tripp, say something."

"Uh, I have to go. I just realized I have an appointment." Tripp said monotone.

"Tripp!" Olivia pleaded.

Tripp shook his head. "Bye Olivia." He hung up and took a deep breath before throwing his phone at the wall.

Olivia looked at her phone to find that he ended the call. She couldn't help the sobs that wracked her body. Her chest started tightening, making it harder to breathe. She paused when she heard keys in her door. The door burst open before closing again. Ava ran in, not noticing the tears staining Olivia's face. "I need to pee really bad!" She dumped her back pack onto the floor and slammed the bathroom door shut once she was inside. Olivia wiped her eyes as best she could before her daughter came back out with a more relaxed look on her face. Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw her mother. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Olivia brushed off, trying to plaster a smile on her face.

"Okay, you are a horrible liar." Ava said rolling her eyes. She sat down next to Olivia and searched her mother's face. Her eyes were puffy and red, but dry. Her make up was a little smudged, but it still looked fine. "What's going on? You're scaring me."

Olivia wrapped her arms around her daughter and rested her head on her shoulder. Ava dropped her head to her mother's. "I'm sorry."

Ava frowned and looked down, her cheek rest against her mother's. "Sorry about what?"

Olivia kissed her daughter's head before pulling her daughter closer. "Not now. When I tell you, you're going to hate me."

"Hey, I could never hate you." Ava said softly, putting a hand on her mother's head. "No matter what you have done, and you've done some pretty bad things." Olivia nodded in agreement. "I couldn't hate you even if I tried."

"What if I told you that I don't know who your father is?" Olivia asked suddenly. Ava's jaw dropped. "Your DNA didn't match your father's. Melinda ran them when she was doing tests for Tiffany's case. I am so sorry. Tripp and I had no idea! We were in Vegas! We had gotten married! We just assumed you were both of ours."

Ava continued to stare at her mother. "Then, who is my dad?"

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	11. Chapter 11

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"There has to be a mix up! I am so much like Dad! How can I not be his?" Ava asked, freaking out. She started pacing. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Olivia stood up and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Okay, how about we go down to the lab and have Melinda run the DNA again? When I found out, I didn't exactly believe it either."

Ava nodded before going to the door. She put a hand on the knob before turning and hugging Olivia. Olivia wrapped her arms around Ava and kissed her head. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Ava." Olivia breathed before they both left for the precinct. They went to Melinda's lab after stopping at a café on Ava's request.

Melinda sighed and turned to her computer. "I still have the samples in the computer. I can run it again, but the computer is going to spit out the same answer."

"Did you miss file the DNA in your computer? Maybe you put the wrong name on the wrong file." Olivia suggested. She grabbed Ava's cup of coffee, earing a groan from her daughter, before giving it to Melinda. "Test Ava's DNA on here against Tripp's DNA profile."

Melinda stared at the coffee cup before taking it. "Fine, but I won't get another answer." She put the cup down and grabbed a swab. "Give me twenty minutes on it. It shouldn't be that long."

Olivia turned back to her daughter and followed her out to the hallway. Ava started pacing the hallway as Olivia leaned against the wall. "Have you told Dad yet?" Ava asked, continuing to pace.

"He called just before you got to my apartment. I told him." Olivia sighed before running a hand through her hair. "I'm hoping he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Well, once we figure this out, we'll call him." Ava breathed before sitting on the small bench against the other wall. She leaned her back against the wall as she rubbed her eyes with her good hand. "Who is my dad if it's not him?"

Olivia sat down next to her daughter. "I have no idea. It was Vegas. Your father and I don't even know exactly what happened that night." She looked at her daughter. "How's your arm?"

Ava took a deep breath. "It's... fine." She leaned against her mother and dropped her head to her shoulder.

Olivia craned her neck and kissed her daughter's head before resting her head on Ava's head. "I love you, baby."

"I love you too, Mom." Ava whispered.

Melinda came out some time later and looked at Ava and Olivia. Olivia spoke up first. "Is Tripp her father or not?"

"You got really lucky." Melinda sighed. "Tripp is Ava's father. But, that leaves one problem for me."

"What's that?" Olivia asked.

"Well, I will have to figure out whose DNA was originally in that file. If it wasn't Ava's, I don't know whose it is." Melinda explained. "But, you're not working this case."

Olivia shook her head. "I can't. Tripp is my ex-husband. It's conflict of interest either way."

Melinda nodded once. "Sorry about the mix up. I'll let you guys head home. It's getting late." She turned and walked back into the lab.

Ava stood up with a smile. "I'm glad we got that covered. Are you going to call Dad?"

"I'm doing that right now." Olivia nodded while dialing Tripp's number. After the fourth ring, his voice mail picked it up. She furrowed her eyebrows. "He's not picking up."

Ava's eyes widened. "He always answers." She pulled out her phone and dialed his number. She started panicking when she got the same result. "This isn't good."

"Well, let's not freak out. He could be in another meeting. He said he had another one." Olivia reasoned. "I'll call Andy and see if she knows anything." They started walking out to the car while she called Andy. When they got in, Andy picked up.

"Hey Liv, what's up?" Andy asked as she gathered up toys.

Olivia started the car. "Uh, a lot, but I need to know if Tripp has called you. He's not picking up for Ava or me."

"Well, he called a hour ago and said he was boarding a plane to come home. Apparently, they had one last meeting and he didn't need to be there for it." Andy shrugged. "I was just about to head to the airport. He said he'd land in another hour and a half."

"Okay, how about Ava and I got pick him up and bring him back to your house? We're already out anyway." Olivia suggested.

Andy chuckled. "That'd help a lot. I still had to get the boys ready."

Olivia smiled lightly. "Okay, I'll talk to you later, Andy." She hung up and pulled out onto the road. "Your father is on a plane heading home. We're going to pick him up from the airport."

"Which airport?" Ava asked.

Olivia's mind went blank. "Andy didn't tell me. Text her and find out."

Ava chuckled as she texted her step mother. "I love how you never ask where. You just think you know." Olivia rolled her eyes, but chuckled. "JFK."

After driving through Manhattan and Queens, Olivia pulled into the airport. Ava and she hurried to find out where they needed to be. After find the terminal, they sat down and waited for the flight to be called in. It wasn't long before people started flowing out of gate, flooding the room with faces and baggage. "Do you see him?" Olivia asked as they looked around.

"No, hold on." Ava said before stepping up onto one of the seats. She looked around and waved when she saw her father come out of the gate. He waved back. "He sees us."

"Okay." Olivia breathed before helping her daughter down. She turned to find Tripp right behind her. He looked thoroughly pissed off with her. "Tripp-"

"I thought Andy was picking me up." Tripp interrupted her. He looked at Ava and gave her a warm smile before hugging her. "Hey princess!" He kissed her head. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Ava smiled and kissed his cheek. "Can I have money for a coffee? Please!" She stuck out her lip and made her famous puppy dog eyes.

Tripp chuckled. "Sure." He handed her a five dollar bill and watched as she hurried to the café nearby. He turned to Olivia and leaned close to her ear. "You have a lot of nerve coming here."

Olivia growled at him. "Hey, you have a problem with it, deal with it. I came for a reason."

"What's that? To rip my heart out again?" Tripp gritted out between clenched teeth.

"I came to tell you that the lab mixed up DNA samples. Ava is yours." Olivia snapped. She watched the surprise come over his face. "Maybe you should listen to me next time and not act like the snap judgment hothead that you are. That's why we got divorced."

Tripp furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought we got divorced because we couldn't take living together anymore."

Olivia sighed. "Yeah, that and the fact that you hit me once." Tripp's eyes softened. "You get hard with me, I get hard with you. You know that."

"I'm sorry." Tripp whispered, looking down at his feet.

"I know you are, but if you ever treat me like that again, I will smack you so hard. You'll be living in next Wednesday." Olivia said before walking ahead of him.

He caught up to her. "Let me make it up to you." Olivia didn't say anything. "I brought back your favorite ice cream that you can only get from that shop in Washington."

Olivia stopped in her tracks. "How much?"

"A pint." Tripp smiled.

"Give it." Olivia demanded as she turned to him and held out her hand. Tripp pulled out the container and watched as his ex-wife dove into it, moaning when the flavor hit her tongue. "You're forgiven. This is amazing."

Tripp smiled and kissed her head. "Again, I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah, just like an ex-husband should." Olivia smiled lightly. "Love you too, Tripp. Now, c'mon, our daughter is probably still debating what kind of coffee to get."

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	12. Chapter 12

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Tripp sat at his desk in his home office. The TV was playing on a different cabinet nearby. He had his laptop open, showing a picture of him and Olivia back when they were married. He was just starting out as a young politician. He was leaning back in his chair, twirling his pen in his hand. His thoughts wandered to what Olivia had said at the airport. _"Yeah, that and the fact that you hit me once."_ He looked at the article that was on his monitor. His photo was at the beginning. Another picture was at the end of the article. He and Olivia were sitting with four month old Ava in Olivia's arms. He had his around Olivia.

_Tripp stormed into the apartment, angry about his day. His boss was treating him like an animal. All he was doing was getting coffee, getting donuts. He slammed the door shut with a loud bang. He walked down the small hallway and into the kitchen. Olivia was washing dishes while Ava sat in her high chair, eating cheerios. She wiped her hands on the dish towel before turning and leaning against the counter. She already looked ticked just from him being in the same room. "What happened today?" She almost growled._

_"Everything happened. Life happened." Tripp gritted out. He watched as Olivia took Ava out of her high chair and patted her bottom lightly before Ava walked slowly into the living room to play with her toys. "What happened to you?"_

_"You came home mad again." Olivia huffed before turning off the kitchen TV. She crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought we agreed we'd talk about your job once Ava was asleep."_

_Tripp groaned. "But, she always wakes up!"_

_"Because you always yell!" Olivia shouted. She rubbed her temple with her hand. "Look Tripp, I love you, but you are not the same person you were when we got married."_

_Tripp chuckled at her statement. "Same man? Same man! Do you mean the man that knocked you up one night in Vegas? That man? That man was drunk! That's not me!"_

_Olivia growled from the back of her throat, willing herself not to punch something. "That wasn't me either! But, ever since you got this stupid campaign job, you have changed and it's not a good color on you!"_

_"What about you?! You want to become a detective! You want to have a job where you get shot at everyday!" Tripp yelled, slamming his fist down on the counter._

_"That's not why I want to do it! I want to do it because everybody deserves a chance at justice!" Olivia snapped._

_Tripp growled. "But, you won't tell me why you want to become a detective besides that! I believe that everybody deserves to have a chance at justice, but it doesn't make me want to become a cop or a lawyer!"_

_Olivia pointed at him. "I told you I didn't want to talk about that!"_

_Tripp grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him. "Well, I think you should tell me now. You are my wife. I'm supposed to know everything about you."_

_"Well, like you said, you are just the man that knocked me up one night in Vegas." Olivia sneered before yanking her wrist out of his hand. She went to turn away only for him to grab her arm, turning her around, and slapping her across the face. She felt the sting immediately and covered her cheek with her hand, getting her footing back on balance._

_"Liv-" Tripp started, realizing what he had done. She held up her hand before looking at him. She had tears building up in her eyes, but she was willing them away. Before he could open his mouth again, she turned on her heel and went into the living room. "Shit!" He breathed, running a hand through his hair. After a few minutes, he walked into the living room, but didn't find her there. He didn't see Ava either. He walked down the attached hallway to their room. The light was on, but no one was in there. He heard Olivia's voice coming from Ava's room. He went to the door and was about to open it when Olivia did. _

_Ava was resting on Olivia's shoulder, her eyes tired. Olivia had tears in her eyes, but none had fallen yet. Her cheek was already starting to turn blue. Ava's diaper bag was slung over her shoulder and her other hand, not holding Ava, was pulling a wheeled suitcase. He opened his mouth to speak, but she walked past him. "Liv, honey, I'm sorry."_

_Olivia whipped around to look at him. "No! You don't get to be sorry." She said sternly, but quietly as to not to disturb Ava. "You do not get to call me honey. I'm calling a lawyer in the morning." That's when first tears fell. She wiped her nose with her sweat shirt sleeve before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Bye Tripp." She turned away and started walking for the front door._

_Tripp's eyes widened. "Olivia, you can't take my daughter. She's mine."_

_"No, she's mine!" Olivia growled, turning on Tripp. He took a few steps back seeing the rage in her eyes. Her eyes were dark, almost cold towards him. She acted like a mother bear guarding her cub. "I will call you sometime tomorrow. Until then, don't talk to me, don't look for me, don't... just leave me alone." She sniffled before going into the kitchen. She grabbed the keys to Tripp's car, her phone, and her wallet before leaving the apartment. Tripp stared at the front door before slowly walking over to it. He placed both palms against it before dropping his forehead to the door._

Tripp snapped out of his flashback when there was a knock at the door. It opened slowly to show Olivia leaning against the doorframe. "Hey." He said softly.

"Hey, Andy wanted me to come up and see how you were doing." Olivia said quietly.

"I'm doing okay." Tripp nodded. "I'm sorry for flipping out on you earlier."

Olivia walked over to him slowly and moved his laptop before perching herself on top of his desk. "Well, you thought your daughter wasn't yours. I guess I can't exactly blame you for being pissed."

Tripp stared at her for a moment. "How did I get lucky enough to marry you? Scratch that. How did I get lucky enough to know you?"

Olivia smiled lightly. "Tripp, you did not get lucky. We got drunk." She chuckled and ran a hand through her hair.

"I am also sorry for hitting you. If I didn't, who knows? We could still be married." Tripp sighed, patting her knee.

Olivia tilted her head, shaking her head. "You know that's not true. We had problems before that." She breathed.

"But, we would've gotten through them. A lot of couples go through what we went through." Tripp said standing up and rubbing her arms. He pulled her to his chest as she wrapped her arms around his torso.

"Tripp, losing our baby wasn't the only problem." She pulled back enough to look at his face. "Losing our baby wasn't our fault. It took me a long time to realize that. I still feel like it's my fault."

"You were only eight weeks along, honey." Tripp said kissing her forehead.

Olivia sighed. "But, losing the baby wasn't our only problem. We were growing apart. Becoming a politician changed you. Becoming a detective changed me. It just wasn't meant to last. I know Andy is the one for you."

Tripp smiled lightly. "Yet, you won't let me tell you who the one for you is."

"Well, you usually make it gross and say that I should be with one of your old college buddies, your brother, or one of your ex-girlfriends." Olivia chuckled. "If I married your brother, Ava's uncle would be her step father. If I married one of your ex-girlfriends, that would just be weird. And, your old college buddies nicknames are Toast, Weed, and Brain." She pecked his cheek before standing up. "Sorry Pooky, but it's not happening."

Tripp laughed and watched her walk towards his door. "Can I please tell you who I think would be perfect for you?"

Olivia turned to him and quirked an eyebrow. "Shoot."

"I think you and Elliot would make a cute couple. Yes, I just used the word cute. No judging." Tripp said holding up a hand. Olivia chuckled. He looked at her. "You and he are best friends. You said so yourself. He knows things, about you, I will never know." He saw her considering his words. "Just think about it."

Olivia wasn't sure how to respond, so she left his office. The next day, she walked into the gym for Ava's volleyball game. She was sitting on the bench with Elliot as the team warmed up. The band was playing and she smiled seeing her daughter enjoying it. After finding Andy and the boys, she sat down next to them. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Liv!" Barney smiled before stuffing his face with popcorn.

Olivia chuckled before looking at Andy. "Where are your kids?"

"They had a school auction tonight. I am not sitting through another one of those." Andy said watching the girls. Olivia laughed and pulled Cliff into her lap, letting him clap his hands against hers. She let her eyes wander to Elliot again. He and Ava were talking and laughing. They got along. That would make things a lot easier on her if they started dating. He knew her inside and out. She knew him. His past was a little hazy to her, but she knew more about him than anybody else, even Kathy. His kids loved seeing her. Maybe, dating him, would be a good thing after all. She looked up when she saw Tripp.

"Hey honey, you looking at your boyfriend?" Tripp asked sitting down and kissing her head.

Olivia chuckled. "He's not my boyfriend." She looked down at Cliff. "Your daddy is a silly man." Cliff chuckled and leaned back into her. Tripp leaned over Olivia and pecked Andy on the lips right before her phone rang. She grabbed it and answered. "Benson."

"Hey Liv, it's Melinda." Melinda greeted through the phone. "I ran that DNA again to see if it belonged to anyone else."

"And?" Olivia asked.

"It has traces of your daughter's DNA, so it was originally Ava's DNA I got from that swab Cragen took. The only reason it didn't match before was because there's somebody else's DNA on it." Melinda explained.

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "How does that work?"

Melinda sighed. "Well, did Ava kiss any boys before you took the swab? The DNA tells me it's a male with green eyes and black hair."

"I don't know. I'll have to ask." Olivia said, confused as to why her daughter wouldn't tell her if she had a boyfriend or not. "Uh, I'll call you later." She hung up with her jaw hanging slightly open.

Tripp furrowed her eyebrows as he looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"That was Melinda. The reason Ava's DNA didn't match before was because somebody else's DNA was also on the swab they took." Olivia explained. "Our daughter has a boyfriend."

"Oh, no she's not." Tripp said getting up.

Olivia grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the bleachers. "Oh no, you don't!"

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	13. Chapter 13

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After the game, Olivia, Tripp, and Andy walked onto the court and over to Ava. Ava was smiling while high fiving her teammates. Elliot was pushed out of the team circle, tripping on his shoes. He caught himself and stood up to see Olivia in front of him. "Hey." He breathed.

"Hey." Olivia chuckled, helping him get his balance back. "Congrats on the win!"

"Thanks!" Elliot smiled. "Your daughter has been driving me crazy. She asks me every five minutes if she can go in and play."

Olivia smirked. "Sounds like she's just like me." She patted his chest before walking around him and going to Ava. She was smiling as she hugged her mother. "Hey girly!"

"Hey!" Ava chuckled before pulling back to look at her mother. "...What do you know?"

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?" She saw her daughter cross her arms, giving her that look that told her not to pull anything. "Okay, okay, Melinda called. She found out why your first DNA test didn't match your father's."

Ava's eyes widened. "Why?"

Before Olivia could answer, Tripp came up behind her with his hands on his hips. "Who have you been kissing, young lady?"

Ava's eyes turned into saucers. "Uh, look a bear!" She waited for her parents to turn, but they didn't. "I knew that wouldn't work. Uh,... I have a boyfriend." She waited for the beast that came out of her father when she mentioned boys. His nostrils were flaring and his cheeks were getting red, almost blue. "Daddy! Breathe!"

"Tripp, honey, please breathe!" Olivia said as she turned to him. She saw his face go back to a normal color and he didn't look so much like the devil. She rubbed his chest for a moment before turning to her daughter. "Who are you dating?"

"Uh, Jason... Hemsworth." Ava said, waiting for her father's blow up. This time, he did.

"What? You are dating Hemsworth's son? He's competition!" Tripp nearly shouted. The gym became silent as they looked over at the family. Ava and Olivia covered their faces so nobody would see them.

Ava pushed on his chest with her good hand. When they got out of the gym, she spoke. "Dad, he's _your _competition. Not mine. The reason I didn't tell you is because I knew you'd react like this."

Olivia raised her hand. "Why not tell me?"

"You tell Dad everything." Ava said simply. "I wasn't going to let you guys ruin my relationship just so you two could be happy."

"How long have you two been dating?" Olivia asked, stopping Tripp from saying something stupid.

Ava stepped back, leaning on her right foot. She put her hand on the door leading to the gym as she looked at the floor. "Uh, our one year anniversary was last month." Before either parent could react, she ran into the gym to her team.

Tripp was shaking his head, pinching the bridge of his nose, as he looked at Olivia. "That girl is going to give me a heart attack someday."

Later, Olivia walked into her apartment. She showered, dressed, and relaxed into her couch, watching a mindless TV show. She was getting bored of it and wished that Ava had come home with her. She grabbed her phone and scrolled down to her daughter's name before texting her.

_Hey, what are you up to?-Liv_

_Nothing, just watching TV. There isn't a whole lot on. Jason and I were sexting earlier.-Ava_

Olivia's eyes widened at her daughter's text. _WHAT?!- Liv_

_LOL!  
I meant sexting.  
I MEAN TEXTING!  
Please don't take my phone away!-Ava _

Olivia couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's texting mania explanation. _I won't... yet. Anything new?-Liv_

_Yeah, I have a new favorite song! Jason is playing it on his guitar.-Ava_

_What is it? I can look it up.-Liv_

_Headphones by Britt Nicole- Ava_

Olivia started playing the song on her phone before responding to her text. _I'm listening to it now. It's not like Carry Out by Justin Timberlake is it?-Liv_

_LOL! No, I thought you like that song.-Ava_

_...So what if I do?-Liv_ She smiled before looking back up at her TV. The news had come on and was showing Tripp with the governor. They were shaking hands as they looked out at the crowd of people and flashing cameras.

_You are such a good role model.  
I have to go to bed according to Dad. Night Mom. Love you!-Ava_

_Love you too, babe! Night!-Liv_ She looked around her apartment, seeing the clock on her wall. It was only nine thirty and she didn't have work tomorrow. "Time to hit the town." She decided before getting up and going to her room. Her hair had air dried nicely. It looked smooth and shiny. She went to her closet and pulled out a gray top that had leather along the shoulders. She grabbed a pair of jeans from her dresser and slid them on before pulling the top over her head. She ran the comb through her hair quickly, getting out an snarls. She slipped on a pair of strappy stiletto heels, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door, locking it behind her.

Reaching the street, she hailed a cab and gave him the address of the bar she wanted to go to. It was her and Elliot's favorite bar. She usually went there when she went out to have a girls' night. The first few months after Elliot left, she went there every night she could to see if he had come. The cab came to a stop outside the dimly lit bar. She gave him a five dollar tip and headed inside, going straight to the counter. She leaned back into the bar stool, watching as the bartender came over to her with a light smile. "Hey Benson!"

"Hey Jerry!" Olivia grinned. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"I know! Where have you been getting your sex on the beach?" Jerry asked with a playful smirk.

Olivia chuckled and pulled out some money from her purse and held it between her index finger and middle finger. "How about I just pay you extra to make me that drink? You're the only one that knows how to make it just right." Jerry grinned as she slid the money into his shirt pocket.

"You got it Liv." Jerry said before beginning on her drink. He made it and handed it to her before leaning against the counter. "So, how have you been?"

Olivia nodded, taking a sip of her drink. "I've been good. You remember Ava, right?"

Jerry smiled. "Little Ava? Yes, I remember her. She used to come in here with you and Tripp when he wanted to watch the football game here. She's gotta be getting old by now."

"Yeah, she is. She's going to be sixteen in December." Olivia said with a nod.

"Jesus!" Jerry breathed, shaking his head. "Liv, you're getting old."

Olivia laughed. "I'm still younger than you and Tripp, Jerry." She smirked when he rolled his eyes. "When is the last time you've seen Ava?"

"Uh, it's probably been a couple years now. The only reason I saw her was because you came in here." Jerry guessed.

"Yeah, it probably has. Sorry, this was Elliot and I's place. It just wasn't the same without him." Olivia apologized.

Jerry nodded. "I can get that. I don't blame you. He's here tonight."

Olivia's eyes widened slightly. "He is? I just saw him at my daughter's game. He's her coach."

"Talk about small world." Jerry scoffed with a smile. He looked over to where Elliot was sitting. He had a couple of guys sitting with him as they drank bottles of beer and watched the game up above on the TV screen. "He just started coming back a month ago. I heard he went to therapy for a while to help him get through his problems. His wife left him because of his problems."

"I never liked Kathy." Olivia huffed, turning back to him. "I just met him again last week. My daughter had parent teacher conferences and he was in the gym."

"How's Ava like him?" Jerry asked.

Olivia smiled lightly. "She loves him. He's like a fricken God to her."

Jerry laughed. "He is a really good and funny guy when he isn't running down perps."

"I know. I spent a lot of nights with him at my apartment when he had a fight with Kathy. He'd crash on my couch." Olivia explained. "He wasn't too happy with me when he found out I had a daughter that he didn't know about."

"I can only imagine." Jerry sighed. He smirked when he looked over her shoulder. "Have fun talking to him." He went to tend to other customers when she felt a hand on her back.

"Mind if I join you?" Elliot's voice asked from behind her.

Olivia turned to see those baby blues staring back at her. "Hey, no, go ahead." She smiled, gesturing to the seat next to her. He sat down, his beer bottle in hand. "How are you Coach Stabler?"

Elliot chuckled, his lips pressed against his beer bottle. Olivia felt the heat rise in the room when she realized she wanted to be that beer bottle. He set the bottle down on the counter and looked at her. "I'm good, Detective Benson. You off tomorrow?"

"Yep." Olivia nodded. "I decided that a night in my apartment wouldn't be as fun as seeing guys get up and sing because they are completely wasted."

"They got rid of the karaoke machine, Liv." Elliot informed her.

Olivia's jaw dropped. "Why? I loved that thing."

Elliot chuckled and studied her face. He hadn't really gotten to talk to her since they had first reunited. "So, we should probably talk about some things, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, we probably should." Olivia agreed, nodding her head. She looked from her glass to his face. "Why did you really leave? I don't want any bullshit this time."

"I honestly thought I was protecting you... from me." Elliot admitted. Olivia was taken aback. "I've caused you nothing but trouble since day one. Everything I've done has gotten you or myself in a jam. I've hurt you in ways nobody else has. I didn't want to be that person anymore, so I left. I care about you more than I care about myself. It tore me apart not being able to see you, but... I told myself that you were better off."

Olivia's eyes softened as she let go of her glass. She wrapped her arms around his torso and let her nose slide into the crook of his neck when his arms wrapped around her. "I will never be better off without you." She breathed. She sighed in contentment when his arms tightened around her. For the first time since he had left, she felt completely safe.

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	14. Chapter 14

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Elliot smiled at Olivia when her head fell back in laughter. They were still talking at the bar, enjoying catching up with each other. "I still smile every time I think about that night." Olivia chuckled as she took a sip of her drink.

"I didn't know what else to say!" Elliot laughed. "So, I just said 'A guy's gotta eat.' What else was I supposed to say?"

Olivia shook her head with a grin on her face. "Probably almost anything but that."

Elliot smiled at her before letting it fall. "I was so scared that night."

"Yeah, you scared both of us. I thought you were going to die." Olivia breathed, willing the tears to go away as that familiar cotton ball formed in her throat.

"Hey, I'm still here." Elliot reminded her, rubbing her back. He wrapped his arm around her since they had pulled their barstools together. "I wasn't talking about me. I was scared for you."

Olivia looked up at him, confusion obvious on her face. "Me? Why were you scared for me?"

Elliot sighed. "Liv, Bushido is part of the scum in this world. He hired prostitutes and hookers and he probably raped women too." He paused, looking at her brown eyes. "When you were standing there, with me, I felt like, if something happened, I could never forgive myself. You looked at them and said one hundred to watch, two fifty to join. I seriously thought they were going to take you up on your offer."

"I know you would've protected me." Olivia breathed, dropping her head to his shoulder. He let his head rest on hers. "Besides, I know you always keep a gun in your bedside table, even when you're undercover."

"I will always protect you, even if I hurt you in the process." Elliot breathed.

Olivia smiled lightly. "Yeah, I've experienced that." She looked up at him. "Promise me something."

Elliot smiled. "Well, that depends. I once promised you that I'd get sick since you were tired of having it and I was making fun of you. I am not doing that again."

Olivia laughed. "No, not that kind of promise." She waited until he looked into her eyes. "Promise me that you won't leave me again."

"I promise." Elliot breathed before wrapping his arms tightly around her. He wanted to hold her all night. He wanted to kiss her, love her. He figured out he loved her in therapy. He knew he loved her already; he just didn't know how deep that love was. Just as she started to relax into him, she pulled away. He knew that she was just protecting herself. She did that with everyone. He hated that she felt she needed to protect herself from everybody close to her. He was relieved when she only sat up; she wanted to stay with him. "Hey, why don't you tell me you and Tripp's story? How did you two meet and have Ava?"

"Uh," Olivia started, tilting her head. She smiled lightly. "It's a little crazy, actually. My girlfriends and I went to Vegas to have a little vacation. My best friend found this guy she thought was hot; it was Tripp." She shook her head chuckling. "We both got plastered. She was going to hit on Tripp while I would hit on his friend. We went over to them and started talking, as we planned. We started playing spin the bottle and things get blurry from there. The next thing I know, I wake up in my hotel room with Tripp beside me. We're hung over and trying to figure out what happened. We figured it out when we saw the ring on my finger and the pictures I took from the night. We decided to get the annulment done in New York. Ironically, we both lived there."

"That is a coincidence." Elliot smiled lightly.

Olivia nodded her head. "No kidding." She ran her finger along the rim of her glass. "A few weeks later, we were getting ready to sign the papers. I found out I was pregnant. Tripp decided that he wanted to give us a try for the sake of our baby. We had been getting along pretty well and were becoming good friends, so it wasn't completely awkward."

Elliot paused, ready for her to continue. When she didn't, he spoke. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you two split up? You two seem really close."

"We are." Olivia nodded, looking up at him with a small, but sad, smile. "After a while, things became difficult. Tripp decided he wanted to become a politician instead of an actor. It put a lot of stress on him and that, in turn, put stress on Ava and I. Every night, Tripp and I were arguing. I was considering divorce. It just wasn't working anymore. One night, Tripp came home angry from his day at work. We started arguing, as always. Things got heated and... he hit me." She saw Elliot's eyes get dark and dangerous, the way he looked at a perp. "The second he did it, he felt bad for doing it and I could see it. I left though. I wasn't going through what my mother did to me again. He begged me to stay and not to file for divorce. But, it was better for us. He's one of my best friends."

"It's a good thing you didn't tell me that when you and I were partners." Elliot said, lifting his drink to his lips. "I would've shot him. I kind of want to now." He took a sip.

Olivia smiled lightly. "You always were my protector." She rubbed his arm. "He's a good guy, El. He hasn't laid a finger on me since. Every time he even thinks about it, he calls me or texts me or does something to tell me he's sorry. It's been fifteen years since he's hit me."

Elliot nodded. "He's really good to Ava."

"Yeah, he's a good father." Olivia breathed. She searched his face before he turned his head to look into her eyes. Her eyes dropped done to his lips before looking back up at those startling blue eyes. His arm dropped from the back of her barstool to her waist. She let her hands touch his torso, her breath leaving her at the hardness of his abs. "El..."

"Yeah?" Elliot asked in almost a whisper, his lips centimeters away from hers.

Olivia inhaled slowly. "I want you." She breathed. Elliot heard those words and descended his lips onto hers. Her left hand snuck up his chest, curling around his neck. His lips were soft against hers, fighting for dominance. She smiled knowing dominance would never be given up for either of them. That's what she wanted. When her lungs threatened to collapse on her, she pulled back. "Wow."

Elliot nodded his head, dropping his forehead to hers. "My thoughts exactly." Olivia smiled, squeezing the back of his neck briefly with her hand. "We waited-"

"Fifteen years." Olivia breathed before opening her eyes to look back into his blue ones. His were shining, his blue eyes almost looking clear. "I don't know how I waited that long."

"I want more now." Elliot said with a nod. Olivia chuckled before kissing him again, shorter than before, but still long enough to have the same effect on her. She felt his hand rubbing soothing circles on her back, the calming effect she needed. "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

Olivia smiled lightly. "Well, it's Saturday. I'll probably spend it on my couch watching scary movies I shouldn't be watching. I usually get Ava on the weekends, but I don't have her this weekend. Tripp is taking her up to our old cabin. She needs to get away for a while."

"No kidding." Elliot huffed. He smiled lightly. "How about I take you out to dinner?"

Olivia smiled, crooking her eyebrow at him. "As in... a date?"

Elliot chuckled. "Yes, as in, a date."

Olivia kissed the corner of his mouth. "You got it." She grinned when his smile made his nose crinkle. "Where and when?"

"How about I text you what time I want to pick you up? The place... that'll be my secret until we get there." Elliot smirked, seeing her roll her eyes. He looked at the clock behind her. It was almost midnight. "It's getting late."

"It is." Olivia said turning to the clock. She turned back to him, disappointed in having to go. "I should probably head home so I can get some sleep."

Elliot nodded. "Me too." He stood up at the same time she did, their bodies pushing against each other. He put his hands on her hips to help them keep balance. She chuckled as they moved together. "How about I walk you home? You live a couple blocks from here."

Olivia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great." She felt the electricity course through her body when Elliot's hand slid into hers. "You can watch me blink my lights." Elliot grinned as they walked into the cool nighttime air. They walked two blocks and were on their last one when it started raining. "Oh no!"

"Can you run in heels?" Elliot asked as he pulled her under one of the apartment building doorways.

"I can run in anything besides stilts, Stabler." Olivia chuckled, looking at the heavy rainfall. "We're going to be soaked to the bone."

Elliot laughed. "Well, let's get you home then." He took her hand again before they started running down the sidewalk. They accidentally ran into someone holding up their umbrella. "Sorry!" He apologized although he was laughing.

Olivia laughed when he ran into a trash can, tipping it over. "Elliot! Come on!" She took his hand again and they ran to her building, only stopping once they reached the lobby. They were both laughing from the situation and the way each other looked in their soaked clothes. "I think I still have some of your clothes. Come on, you can take a warm shower and get some dry clothes on."

"You still have my clothes?" Elliot asked as he took her hand and stepped onto the elevator.

"Yeah, they are comfy to sleep in." Olivia shrugged with a smile.

Elliot thought about Olivia in his clothes and couldn't help but think of her out of his clothes. He needed to get a grip. "So, I'm guessing I have to return the clothes that I borrow."

"That'd be correct." Olivia smirked before they stepped off the elevator, heading down the hallway to her apartment.

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	15. Chapter 15

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Olivia walked into her living room to find Elliot snoring on her couch. She smiled to herself before going to her bathroom, ready to take her shower. Elliot woke up when he heard the water turn on. He looked around, confused, until he remembered the night before. He smiled thinking of Olivia's lips on his.

_They walked into the apartment, water dripping from every limb. Olivia chuckled when Elliot's feet started slipping on the floor. She grabbed his arm, helping him balance. "Get on the carpet. I don't need you breaking bones the night before our date." Closing the door, she toed off her shoes and followed Elliot to her bedroom before going to her closet. She pulled out some of his clothes from the top shelf before turning to him and handing them over. "You can take a shower in the guest bath. I'll use my bathroom."_

_Elliot nodded. "Thanks, do you still have-" He question was answered when she tossed him a black bottle of shampoo. "This is almost scary." Olivia chuckled before going to her own dresser, pulling out her favorite pajama pants of his, that he left, and a black tang top. "Those are mine too."_

_"No." Olivia smirked shaking her head. She pecked his lips. "They are mine now." She winked at him before going to her bathroom, leaving the door open a crack. After she showered and changed, she walked out to the living room and started heating up some apple juice from her fridge, making a substitute for apple cider. She turned when she heard the floor creak behind her. She saw Elliot come out of the bathroom, coming over on his bare feet. "Hey, would like some?" She asked gesturing to the mug she had made for him._

_"Yes please." Elliot smiled lightly, taking the mug from her. He took a sip, moaning as the warm liquid warmed his insides. "Since when do you have anything in your fridge?"_

_Olivia chuckled. "Well, when Ava comes over, I can't exactly feed her take out all the time." She took a sip from her mug before speaking again. "So, I hope your clothes don't smell too much like me."_

_Elliot grinned. "I like the smell of you on my clothes." He kissed her forehead, heading for the living room. She liked this feeling of security. "So, I'll take the couch."_

_"Elliot, you are not staying on my couch!" Olivia stated matter of factly._

_Elliot plopped down on her couch, putting his hands under his head. "It's more comfy than mine." He closed his eyes. "Nighty night, Liv."_

_Olivia smiled, shaking her head and putting her mug down, before grabbing his feet. "You." She bent down slightly. "Are not." She pulled off his socks, knowing he couldn't sleep without them. "Sleeping." She let them drop to the floor. "On my couch." She pulled on his feet, grunting when he wouldn't move. "Elliot, this couch is uncomfortable. Your back is going to be killing you tomorrow."_

_"I think I'll survive. My back will be fine, Liv." He took the blanket from the back of her couch and pulled it over his body. He knew this was bugging her. "Nighty night, Liv." He repeated before snuggling into the couch, closing his eyes with a grin on his face._

_"Elliot!" Olivia laughed before he sat up and grabbed her waist. Before she knew it, she was straddling him. His lips were on her neck, sucking on the skin. She moaned softly, wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Don't stop doing that." She felt him chuckle through his chest. After a few moments, his lips made their way up to her lips, stopping her from getting oxygen._

_When he pulled away, he smiled at her. "You look beautiful, Liv."_

_Olivia blushed, feeling suddenly self conscious. "I am not, El. You just have bad eyes."_

_"No, I don't, Liv." Elliot smiled. "You are beautiful." He kissed her forehead. "Every." He kissed her nose. "Part." He kissed her lips, letting his linger on hers for a moment. "Of you."_

_"You'll just have to believe it for the both of us." Olivia said with a small smile. She pecked his lips before getting up. "Night El." She ran a hand through her hair as she walked into her bedroom. Elliot smiled at her before laying back down, turning out the lamp by his head._

He shook his head, smiling like crazy, before getting up and going to the kitchen. He started a pot of coffee, not believing she kept everything in the same place. Of course, things in his house with Kathy had probably stayed in the same place for years, he just didn't know. He turned to the fridge and opened it, grabbing a carton of eggs and setting it on the counter. He got out a pan, chuckling when he found a cob web forming on it.

When Olivia walked out to her living room, she found the couch made and smelled bacon. She turned to the kitchen and grinned when she found Elliot making eggs, chewing on a piece of bacon. She loved seeing him so comfortable in her apartment. He looked like he was home. Her heart clenched at the thought. "Hey." She said, causing him to look up at her.

"Hey." Elliot smiled at her. She had a pair on white denim shorts and a loose fitting, light blue tang top. She had blow dried her hair. "You hungry?"

"Yes." Olivia said walking into the kitchen, leaning against the counter in the small kitchen. "How'd you sleep?" She asked as he handed her a plate with eggs and bacon.

"Good, your couch is a lot better than mine." Elliot nodded before sliding an egg out of the pan. He turned off the stove, putting the pan on the back burner.

Olivia smiled lightly at him. "So, what did you want to do today? Do you just want to hang out? Did you have something you had to do?"

Elliot shook his head. "I'm all yours." He paused. "How about we just make our whole day our date? We can do whatever."

Olivia paused before grinning. "Sure, sounds fun. I should probably change."

"No, I think what you're wearing is perfect." Elliot smirked before pecking her lips and going to her couch.

Once she finished eating, Olivia put a hand on Elliot's shoulder. "I'm going to go get my mail. I'll be back in a minute." She kissed his cheek before heading for her door.

"Hey!" Elliot called after her. She turned to him. "You better hurry. My lips miss yours." Olivia laughed, nodding her head, before going downstairs. He turned back to the TV, resting his feet on the coffee table. He looked towards the kitchen when the phone rang. He stood up and grabbed the phone, answering it after the second ring. "Benson residence."

"Hello?" A voice asked, confused as to why a man was answering the phone.

Elliot's eyes widened. "Ava?"

"ELLIOT FRICKEN STABLER!" Ava shouted into the phone. "What are you doing at my mother's house at eight in the morning!?"

"Uh," Elliot started. "How about I let your mother explain when she comes back?" He could feel his palms getting sweaty.

Ava paused. "Did you stay with my mom last night?"

Elliot sighed in relief when Olivia walked in. "Look, your mother is back. Olivia, your daughter is on the phone wanting to know why I am here."

Olivia eyes widened. Ava was still on the other end. "Elliot, answer my question!"

"Give me the phone." Olivia said, holding out her hand. She smiled lightly when Elliot mouthed 'Good luck'. She held the phone to her ear. "Hello Ava."

**Please review! You guys are great! I won't be able to update as much for the next couple weeks. We are starting drama rehearsals and I won't have as much time to write!**


	16. Chapter 16

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"Hello mother!" Ava nearly growled. "Did you sleep with my volleyball coach?"

"No, he just stayed over. I went to a bar last night and he happened to be there. We got caught in the rain so I let him crash on my couch." Olivia explained calmly. "Besides, it's none of your business if I do."

"He's my volleyball coach! If the girls find out you're banging him, they are going to think he favors me." Ava stated.

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed. "He already favors you."

Ava groaned. "Yeah, but it's not because he's getting laid by my mom."

"Okay, can we please stop talking about me nailing Elliot?" Olivia asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. She rolled her eyes when she saw Elliot turn to her and smirk. "Look, I am only going on a date with him. That's all. Ava, I've known him a lot longer than you have."

Ava paused. "Just please, keep the relationship out of my school."

Olivia chuckled. "I don't even go to your school. But, I promise. I will be totally professional when I go to see my boyfriend at your school."

"You just make it weird." Ava giggled, shaking her head. "Dad told you what he and I thought, didn't he?"

"He told me that he thought Elliot and I would make a cute couple. Your father used the word cute." Olivia laughed.

Ava gasped. "That bastard stole my line. That's what I told him!" Olivia burst into laughter hearing her daughter. "So, how long have you liked him?"

Olivia smiled lightly. "Since the day I met him."

Ava's eyes widened. "That's more than half my life!"

"Exactly!" Olivia chuckled. She looked at the time and figured Ava should be going to bed with the time difference. "Hey, I'll talk to you more tomorrow. I love you. Goodnight!"

"Love you too, Mom." Ava smiled. "Night." With that, she hung up.

Olivia smiled for a moment before putting her phone back. She turned to find her living room empty. She went to her bedroom and noticed her bathroom light was on. She went in and smiled seeing Elliot brushing his teeth. He looked at her through the mirror and grinned. Leaning down, he spit out the toothpaste before rinsing out his mouth. "How'd Ava take it?" He asked, turning to her.

She watched as he leaned against the counter, palms laid on her counter. "She took it rather well. Apparently, she's the one that thinks we'd make a cute couple." She smirked, walking closer to him. When she reached him, he put his hands on her hips, pulling her flush against him.

Elliot pecked her lips. "Cute, huh? I don't think she's the first."

"Probably not." Olivia chuckled, clasping her hands behind his neck. His forehead dropped to hers. "She just said we had to keep the relationship out of school." She whispered.

"Gotcha." Elliot smiled. He stared into her eyes for a moment, knowing that he could do so without making it weird. The feeling alone made his heart swell. "You're beautiful; you know that, right?"

"That's what you keep telling me." Olivia breathed. She liked their quiet conversation. It made New York seem like a simple place for the moment. She leaned up and pecked his lips. His lips pecked hers afterwards. She kissed him again, letting her lips linger. He didn't let her pull back before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. His hand tangled in her hair as she held him tighter. His other hand tightened on her hip as he turned them around, lifting her to the counter. He perched her on it, never letting his lips detach from hers.

Olivia let her hand wander down his back before grabbing his t-shirt. She tugged at it, pulling it over his head. His lips came crashing back to hers as she cupped his face. She went for his waistband next, but he grabbed her hand. His lips were suddenly off of hers and he was breathing heavily in front of her. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Elliot shook his head. "Nothing, that was perfect. I just... I want to take my time with you." He was still panting, as was she. "I haven't even taken you out on a date yet."

"Twelve years of foreplay and paid dinners qualifies." Olivia said pretty sure of herself.

Yet, Elliot shook his head again. "You deserve to be taken out on a real date before we do what we were about to do." He dropped his forehead to her shoulder. Olivia let her arms wrap around him and hold him to her as their breathing calmed down. "I'm not going to be like every other guy you've had. Things are going to be different with us. I promise you that." He said lifting his head to drop his forehead to hers. He cupped her face. "I promise you that."

Olivia nodded before he kissed her twice. She rested her hands on his chest, loving the feeling of behind in his arms. "I don't think I'll mind that promise." They both smiled before getting up to get ready. They left her apartment, holding hands. She loved the feeling of his fingers intertwined with hers. When they'd stop to cross the street, he'd lean over and kiss her cheek or head. Soon, his arm was wrapped around her waist and they were walking down the street. She looked up at the store signs and grinned seeing one. "El, look, there's a sale on wine."

"That's too good to be true." Elliot said, stopping to get a better look at the store. She chuckled seeing him eyeball the store. "Let's go check it out just to make sure."

"Just to make sure." Olivia agreed, mocking him. They went inside and started looking through the shelves and isles of wine bottles. Olivia found a bottle that she liked and found Elliot with two bottles. "What did you find?"

Elliot smirked. "It's a surprise." He pecked her lips.

"That's not fair." Olivia chuckled, reaching for the bottles. Elliot pulled away with a playful glare.

"If you make me drop them, you'll never find out." Elliot warned her. She just glared at him. He couldn't help but be amused. He kissed the air and then blew air towards her since he couldn't blow a kiss to her with his hands trying to hide the wine names.

Olivia just laughed at him and patted his back. "Well, I am ready when you are."

Elliot nodded. "I'm ready." He took her bottle. "I'll go pay for this and have the guy hold it for us until we come and get it." Olivia nodded before watching him go to the counter. She started looking around on the shelves, looking for empty spaces. If she found empty spaces, it meant Elliot had probably gotten it. She was just about to read one of the tags when she felt arms envelope her waist and pulled her back. She squealed when she felt his lips come into contact with her neck. "Are you snooping, Ms. Benson?"

"No." Olivia lied only for his hands to tickle her sides. "Okay, okay, yes! I was snooping." She chuckled when he kissed her ear. "So, Mr. Stabler, what did you want to do next?"

"I think we'll think of something." He smirked before taking her hand and pulling her out of the store.

**Please review! Love you guys!**


	17. Chapter 17

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The weekend flew by fast, ending up with Olivia going back to another week of work. She entered the squad room Monday morning to find everyone circled around the white board. She approached cautiously before speaking "What are we looking at?"

Nick looked at her before looking back at the board. "Another woman was raped and murdered from Tripp Manning's office building." He pointed to the picture. "Do you know Hannah Carson?"

Olivia looked at the picture. "No, who was she?"

"She was a secretary to a secretary for one of Tripp's campaign managers." Amanda informed her before showing her the crime scene photos. "She was found in Central Park, stuffed into a trash bag that was hid in the bushes."

"This guy knows how to get through a place without being seen." John sighed. "He can go through Central Park and put Tiffany's body in a tree without anyone noticing and he goes through the park with a trash bag. This guy has to be cleaning the park or something. That'd be the only logical explanation, not that I'm one for logical."

Cragen glared at John for a moment before looking back at Olivia. "Fin is interviewing Brian about Ava's attack. He is still claiming self defense. Barba wants to take him to court, but... the DA doesn't."

Olivia growled, running a hand through her hair. "He broke my daughter's arm and I'm just supposed to forget about it?" She paused before her eyes widened. "Could we get him on prostitution charges? We have him on tape in that club."

"Defense could say that he was doing his job. We took that tape a month ago, Liv. The defense would claim we're just trying to put him away because we can't get him on the assault." Nick sighed, getting up from his desk. "I want to nail him too, but we can't charge him with something without backing it up. If we do that, he could claim that we have an agenda against him."

"Which we do." Fin mumbled, sitting next to Olivia. "Don't worry, Baby Girl. We'll get him on something. It'll just be a matter of time before he does something else stupid." He patted her back before getting up and going to his own desk.

"How is Ava doing?" John asked Olivia.

Olivia shrugged. "She's doing good. I haven't heard from her in a couple of days. Tripp and Andy took her out of town for the weekend." She leaned against the desk behind her. "The last time she called me was Saturday morning when Elliot picked up the phone."

Everybody looked at her. "When Elliot picked up the phone?" Amanda asked, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Elliot and I happened to be at the same bar on Friday night. He walked me home, but we ended up getting caught in the rain. He slept on my couch, and- Wait, why am I explaining myself to you guys?" Olivia asked with a small smile. "What I do on my own time is my own business."

"Where's Olivia? Let me talk to her now!" Brian boomed from somewhere in the squad room. Everyone turned to find him by the interrogation room next to Cragen's. He looked at all of them before staring at Olivia. He pointed at her. "What have you been telling them?" He shouted walking towards her.

Olivia stepped towards him. "I have been telling them what you did to my daughter."

Brian let out a vile chuckle. "You don't even deserve to be a mother. You hid her for years! How do we know she's even yours?"

"Get out!" Olivia yelled, pointing to the door.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Brian yelled back, stepping closer to her.

"Step away from my ex-wife!" Tripp yelled walking over to them. He stepped in between Olivia and Brian, taking Olivia's hand in his. "You don't know... how great of a mother she is. Ava could not love her more. Just because she isn't a conventional mother doesn't mean she isn't a good one. The only reason she hid our daughter is because of this job. She was protecting our daughter!" He boomed. "You, you asshole, broke my daughter's arm."

Brian looked up at Tripp, not believing Olivia was once married to him. "She attacked me, buddy."

Tripp chuckled. "You want us to believe that you couldn't overpower a fifteen year old girl."

"I'm a cop. It's my job to keep people safe." Brian smirked.

"So, breaking my daughter's arm was keeping her safe?" Tripp asked, almost growling.

Brian shook his head, smiling. "I broke your daughter's arm when I pushed her off of me. She literally tackled me and started punching me." He gestured to the bruises on his face. "It was all self-defense."

Olivia stepped forward, still behind Tripp. "But, I calmed her down before you pushed her off of you."

"Doesn't matter!" Brian laughed with a booming voice. "No jury is dumb enough to believe that you calmed her down. She's the daughter of a politician and a sex crimes' detective. No one would blame her for going crazy!"

Tripp glared at Brian. "She was still calm. You didn't need to push her off of you. You have at least thirty years on her, not to mention you weigh more than her. Were you just trying to make our lives more difficult?"

Brian's eyes widened. "Olivia and I had been dating for a year. She never told me she had a daughter!"

"And, that just makes it so much better." Tripp said before Brian threw a punch at him. Olivia pulled Tripp back before Brian's fist hit him. Tripp swung back forward and thrust his fist into Brian's gut. Brian lost his breath as he held a desk to keep his balance. "That's for hurting my family."

Olivia pulled Tripp back, putting a hand on his chest. "You did good." She breathed.

"I want him arrested for assaulting a police officer." Brian demanded, holding his stomach.

"You took the first swing." Cragen said confused as to why Brian would suggest the idea.

Brian shook his head. "I don't care. He still assaulted me." He looked at John and Fin, neither of them moving. "Go ahead!" Fin walked away while John shook his head. "Fine! I'll do it myself." He went over to Tripp.

Olivia grabbed his hand. "You arrest him and I arrest you for police brutality. You are using your career status to your own personal gain."

"Let go." He snarled at her. When she didn't, he yanked his arm back and grabbed Tripp's wrists. "Tripp Manning, you are under arrest for assaulting a police officer. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?" He said reading off the Miranda rights on his way out of the squad room.

"He can't do this." Amanda said, walking up behind Olivia and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Olivia shrugged it off. "He just did."

**Please review! I know it's been a while! Sorry! I've been super busy with drama and family issues. It's a long story. I had thirteen tests this past week. Exhausted!**


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